Tools for Parenting

The Incarnation was obviously pretty great, but I think the true miracle of Christmas was when Mary wrapped the baby in swaddling clothes and laid him in the manger. I don't know what we would do if no one had told us about swaddling the baby. It's the ultimate weapon. When everything else has failed; feeding, burping, changing, rocking, yadda yadda- if we swaddle her, she gets quiet. She can be screaming in impotent rage, and then we swaddle her and seconds later she gets all dreamy-eyed and angel-babyish. I'm afraid to use the swaddle too often for fear it will lose its potency. Maybe it has something to do with circulation, but I'm not going to think about it too hard.

The pacifier, which Lazlo and I have decided to call "the shut up key", is also great. All this blather about so called "nipple confusion" was just another one of the billion things they tell new parents to mess with our heads. Like- "you always have to warm a bottle", and "never never never shake a baby." Wren shows no preference for any particular food delivery method. She's in it solely for the food; she could care less about the dining experience. If shut up keys didn't already exist I think Lazlo and I would craft them with slivers of wood and tree resin. Life would not be worth living without them.