Monday, March 15, 2010

The Insanity Snap and a Photo Load



Our friends Dan and Katie were over yesterday, and Katie (a nanny) was talking about how impossibly frustrating it is to drive a car through NYC traffic with an infant howling hysterically in the backseat. At one point, it overwhelmed her so much that she basically went nuts. "There was nothing I could do. So I just started laughing."

Sometime a couple of weeks ago, Isaac was perfecting his banshee wail, the one that says "I'm so hungry, and have made myself so miserable, that before I will eat, you must calm me down to the point where I look like I'm one of those pictures of a person staring in abject horror at some great calamity." And he kept going. And going. And....going...

And that's when I had the "insanity snap." I just started laughing in his face. Not because I wanted to. Not because I am by nature a cruel human being. I had just hit my breaking point. And I laughed at my screaming child.

Thinking about it now, after that day, Isaac's ghastly shrieking doesn't get to me the same way. Sure, I want to fix the problem, and I still much prefer to have happy Ike to sad Ike. But I don't stress as much when Ike is upset, and that is key to my general well being. I know that parenting makes one "crazy." But apparently, this particular craziness is an on-the-fly adjustment, an adaptation ensuring the survival of the species.

The rest of what you're here for:


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