What was it this week? Was it colder? Were the sun's rays less powerful? Giant anti-matter waves being beamed at my littlest, almost-2-year-old who is every bit showing it? Whatever it was: she was not feeling well. Miss Lulu was not her sunshiney, wonderful self. And boy did it test my patience. With food aversions, apparently, I am also experiencing noise aversion. This is the wrong house for such an affliction.
This child was whining about *everything*. She was contrary about the most minute, inane things. She was more argumentative than my oldest, who's always ready for a good bickering.
"Do you want cheese or yogurt for a snack?" I would ask.
"Nooooooo!" she would wail miserably, and then fall out on the floor for a ten-minute tirade about not having a snack.
If I asked to hold her, she would utterly reject me (and dad and anyone else), but then screech and moan to be picked up. Squirmy, un-huggable, un-holdable: she's mistress of all of these. By far she's been my hardest baby to hold. She wasn't eating well, either; she wasn't sleeping well (even by King standards), and nothing pleased or pacified her.
It's been miserable for all of us, and last night, after posting something snippy about whiny children on facebook, I went to bed exhausted and desperate for quiet. I said hurried prayers for more patience, and thank God he knew we all needed more than patience.
I'm so glad to report that today the wailing little minion was nowhere to be seen (or worse, heard). Instead, cheerful giggling. Wonderful, blissful, belly-deep laughter. Music! Celestial choirs! Nothing matches happy laughter, especially coming from a child who has been inconsolable. I was emptying the dishwasher and trying to be vigilant to meet any needs, and here she is playing with her brother. Though the entire week she has ignored him completely, today his antics were amusing again. And that sound was like heaven to my ears.
So I'm not noise averse, per se. It's just the annoying, cloying, grating kind that I have no tolerance for these days. I'm so thankful to have had a little reprieve from it today. And more, for the sheer joy that I can hear in a happy child's laugh. It was like aural grace this morning.
No comments:
Post a Comment