In a sports town like this jinxes run deep and cockiness is a sure sign of apocalyptic events. Case and point: me. Remember my post For Just 2 Cups of Coffee a Day…? Why, it was but one post ago. Yes, well you can take that and throw it between Bill Buckner’s legs. It jinxed us. No sooner did I post that than did the aliens return with my child. He-who-cries-for-no-apparent-reason. So the search continues.
That’s the thing about jinxing. It doesn’t matter who does it. It’s just about counting your chickens before they hatch. Or any other such cliche.
For instance, I will never say anything like the following: (in fact, I’ll use a made up name so as not to doubly jinx us) “Heleosa (that’s the made up name) will be an all ‘A’ student.” Nope. Will never come out of my mouth. Even if Heleosa has all ‘A’s in every class until that point, I will never ever make a grand pronouncement that that sort of great achievement will continue.
The thing is you can’t reverse jinx either. By that I mean, you can’t pronounce him to be an all F student so that he does better. Fact is, if by all ‘F’ student you meant 60s he would be relegated to 50s. That’s how it works. Anyone who has watched the Pats for any length of time knows that any announcer’s statement such as, “Antoine Smith hasn’t fumbled in 1,000,000 carries” means that he will fumble not only the next time he touches the ball but also at the worst possible moment.
That’s how it works in New England. Don’t let our recent sports teams’ success fool you. Any true New Englander believes in the power of jinx. I mean, I can’t be the only one that hasn’t washed my Troy Brown jersey in 2 years.
Crystal says:
February 15th, 2005 at 1:59 am
Believe me, Philly knows it, too! And I am a strong believer in jinx… as soon as I say something, the kids prove me wrong. “Hon, the kids haven’t had an accident all day!” “Mommy, acidet!” Damn!
Angie Heffner says:
February 15th, 2005 at 7:49 am
Jen and Eric,
Have you tried the baby sling? They sell here, in St. Louis, for about $50. Heaven knows what they might go for in Boston, but it is worth a try. Sling Hayes to cuddle across your abdomen. He cuddles close to Mom or Dad. He feels warm and safe. He hears your heartbeat…He sleeps…
Having said that, here is the caveat, Sam loved it and it worked…James did not like it…and…Yep…it did not work.
It is just a big piece of material and a clip. You can probably find a pattern for it on the internet and whip up your own trial model. You probably have seen them, but when you are sleep deprived you don’t always think of all your options for possible solutions. I’m just trying to jog your memory here.
Good Luck, you guys!
Angie
Cameron says:
February 15th, 2005 at 8:00 am
Football carry. Also, “The Happiest Baby on The Block” by Harvey Karp. But mostly the football carry.
Jen says:
February 15th, 2005 at 8:52 am
Thanks Ang. We have two slings, and they do work for regular crying spells. They don’t work so well for the “for-no-reason” crying that just hits from out of nowhere. I sang rock-a-bye baby a trillion times last night, and he was fine when I sang, but as soon as I stopped he would start wailing. Eric took the next shift and got him calmed down using our chair that vibrates. I am starting to think that he just gets bored…and likes to watch us go into high gear with our feeble attempts to chill him out!
Chris says:
February 15th, 2005 at 9:07 am
Oh, does this sound familiar. Our daughter, now seven and sleeping like a normal person (just so you know that this too shall pass) screamed for three hours every evening. Bellowed. Howled. Did not want to eat, did not want to sleep, did not want to be in the swing or the vibrating chair (especially did not want that — when we thought she couldn’t scream louder, we learned that she could). The only thing she liked was to be carried up high on her father’s shoulder, with her fist shoved down the back of his collar, and walked. Back and forth in our tiny (900 sq. ft.) house. “This is the front door. This is your living room. This is the dining room. This is the kitchen. This is the back door.” Her absolute favorite was to go up and down the stairs, but that was hell on dad’s knees so we saved that for times we thought we were going to go deaf and/or crazy. She also liked to be sung to, so dad would sing her show tunes. A Chorus Line and Sweeney Todd were particular popular.
And then, after about 6-7 weeks, she stopped. It was like a miracle.
Good luck! You do seem to be keeping your sense of humor about it all, and that’s crucial.
mrscrumley says:
February 15th, 2005 at 11:20 am
Ok, here is a trick from a creative parenter- my husband. Take one percussion back massager, place it in the crib, upside down so the “hammer” parts are facing up, and turn it on. Put it in the corner of the crib away from baby. Place baby in crib, on the opposite side of the crib from the massager.
The vibrations instantly kill the crying and put baby to sleep. After about 10 minutes, turn massager off.
It’s a neat trick that works most of the time.
Scott, Tanya, Colby and Bryce Grove says:
February 15th, 2005 at 12:07 pm
Sounds like colic to me. If you haven’t already done this try switching to a soy based formula. Some babies have problems digesting the milk based formula. Our boys had colic and this seemed to help them.
Jennifer says:
February 15th, 2005 at 1:52 pm
enjoying your blog. I am a new mom of a nine month old girl who had colic for the first three months of life. Soy formula did help some, but we had to go get some medicine for colic. even that only helped a little. Good luck
Cameron says:
February 15th, 2005 at 2:24 pm
seriously, at the risk of repeating myself (which I never do), get the Harvey Karp book.
Lori says:
February 16th, 2005 at 12:33 pm
This is really in reference to the jinx… My kids, babies now, had to stay up and watch the entire world series with their jerseys on and I was not allowed to wash them. Sound familiar?
More Diapers. One man's quest for modern fatherhood. » Virtual Vacuum says:
February 20th, 2005 at 2:02 am
[…] – and only one – solution to make Hayes uhm…. well…. not going to jinx us again. Let’s just say it’s worth a try and it has some history. I guess history is o […]