It was my understanding that babies are supposed to cry when they don't get what they want. But lately, Elsa and Clio have gotten into a -- frankly, quite annoying -- habit of crying when they are about to or are in the process of getting exactly what their little hearts desire. This chiefly involves eating. The babes will be playing contentedly on the floor, happy as can be. Then I'll get them up into their high chairs, put on their bibs, and suddenly they are STARVING. And not only are they starving, but I am TORTURING them by not immediately filling their mouths. I've taken to keeping a box of Cheerios on the dining room table near their high chairs so I can fling cereal at them while I go into the kitchen to get their food. On more organized days, I make sure I've got their food all set first, so I can start feeding them RIGHT AWAY before they PERISH FROM HUNGER!!
But even that's not good enough for Elsa, who's lately started to cry and whine while she's being fed, between and sometimes even during spoonfuls. It's like suddenly she realizes how hungry she's been this whole time and is retroactively miserable, even as I'm shoveling her full of bananas / cereal / squash / yogurt / whatever as fast as possible. I've always fed both girls at the same time out of one bowl, alternating spoonfuls between them, but I'm thinking maybe I should work on my ambidexterity (is that a word?) -- get a spoon in each hand and feed them both at once. Or, maybe I should start telling Elsa about the starving children in Africa? Yeah, that one always works.
The other thing they've started to do is what you might call reunification anxiety. Forget separation anxiety; they don't seem to have any problem with my leaving them with a sitter, relative, etc. It's when I come back that all of a sudden they get needy. I come in the door, they're playing happily, and then they see me, smile at first, and promptly start whining and crying and reaching up to be held, as if their prior happiness was all just an act: Grandma (or whoever) was actually TORTURING them all day! It was HORRIBLE! All that smiling and giggling? They were just being polite! HELP, MOMMY! SAVE US!!
Or maybe I'm misinterpreting this situation. Maybe it's not that they suddenly remember that they want attention from me in particular. Maybe, in fact, they're thinking: Oh, great, look who's back -- that mean lady who's going to put us in our high chairs and NOT FEED US, for, like, twelve seconds. We HATE that bitch.
Has anyone else out there experienced the baby-crying-when-they-get-what-they-allegedly-want phenomenon? I'd love to hear your theories on the cause, or possible coping strategies besides trying desperately to placate them while repeatedly cooing things like, "Hey, little baby, you're OK!" And "Why so sad, cookie pants?" and "There's no crying in baseball!"
Temporarily appeased by Cheerios
