It should come as no surprise to anyone who knows me that my daughter is a bucket 'o sass. But just in case you're not convinced, please see exhibit A:
This is my 3 month old disrespectin' (and please pardon the spit up. She
We had a picnic at work. E was fantastic. She slept through lunch, then woke up and smiled and laughed at everyone and generally had a good time taking in all the new sights. She's very inquisitive and wants to see EVERYTHING. She didn't fuss at all until the end when another baby started crying, and as soon as I put her in her stroller with her octopus, she was fine, as evidenced by this photo:
She's talking to her octopus. They talk all the time, but she won't tell me what it's about. Whatever he says, it makes her happy, so so far I've let it slide.
A bit later I packed her up in the car, she immediately fell asleep, and I embarked on the 1 hour trek to my parent's house. Where it happened.
Now let me take 1 quick step back and say I don't believe in "cry it out" for infants. I think they cry when they need something. There are times where I know she's changed, fed, cuddled, played with, had a nap, and still cries, where I just get done what I need to do anyway, but I always reassure her that I'm there. I figured by not picking her up I was teaching her a bit of self-soothe, but by talking to her and sitting near her and patting her that she was learning that mommy was there for her.
Buuuuut something didn't work as planned.
Half way to my parent's house she started crying, complete with cry face. It was a weird cry, and I knew she was completely fine, and I figured she'd fall right back asleep. But she didn't. So when I got there I picked her up and looked at her. And noticed... no tears. No red eyes. No red face. She was FAKE CRYING. And she stopped the second I poked my head in the back seat! My not-quite-4-month-old has learned to fake cry. She was tired of being in her seat, and wanted me to pay attention to her. HOW DID SHE GET SO SMART?
So I did an experiment. She was in her bouncer, happy as a clam with me playing and talking (this picture is during the experiment - and no, she does not have a unibrow, it's a shadow!).
At one point, I stopped looking at her, and started talking to my mom. Within about 15-20 seconds, she was whining like she was about to cry. As soon as I looked back at her she stopped.
And now I'm at an impass. I can't just let her cry if I want her to feel safe. But if I pay attention every time, she'll cry every time she wants attention. And I'm at my first mommy moment where I need to break a behavior and have absolutely no idea how to do it. And yet I'm impressed by how freaking intelligent this child is to pick up on this already.
Dear child self: Karma's a bitch.
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