not fooled

Well it has been quite a week with Evie. Dan had his last exam (the one that determined whether he completed his program or not) on Thursday so I was home alone with her. It was very hot and humid and Evie decided to HAVE A BAD DAY. Oh my goodness. She got herself so upset that she was too angry to eat which made her even more angry. Of course I tried all the usual things – sling, different holds, talking, singing, alone time, cup feeding. NO DEAL. Eventually she calmed down enough to eat a good meal and felt much better. We decided we should try out a baby swing, since many people we talked to (not to mention customer reviews online) suggested a swing was very helpful to calm babies down and stimulate them when you’re too tired to carry them. The one we decided to buy is supposed to “simulate a mother’s arms” and had a whole bunch of bells and whistles. Sanan took us to the toy store on Friday and we tried it out in the store – she seemed ok with it there. However, over the past 48 hours we tried it in a number of different situations and here is her response:
Upset: just makes her more upset
Sleepy: wakes her up and makes her spit up
Awake: bored, more interested in people and maybe it’s just my imagination but she looks like she us plotting her escape

Clearly she is not impressed with substitutes. We will be returning the swing. In the meantime my elbow will keep locking up.