1 month old baby: Dancing keeps us sane

At one month post-pregnancy, things are not exactly as I had imagined them while carrying my baby in the womb.  I suppose we all think we will have an "easy" baby.  Or at least one we can meet the needs of simply by feeding, changing, sleeping, cuddling...I have not prepared myself for the baby who has all of his needs met (although sleep, admittedly, is our challenge), is loved, stimulated, and still cries.  During this first month, I have not yet read Happiest Baby on the Block (although in my 2nd month post-partum, I do), so I am not yet familiar with the 5 "s"s which later shed great insight into calming the fussy baby.  I love my baby to death, but there are times when I cannot, for the life of me, figure out what he needs, what he wants, what he is missing.

My husband and I are discussing this one day, and he shows me how he sometimes dances with our baby when he's alone.  He demonstrates an exaggerated waltz and I start laughing hysterically.  "I do the same thing!" I tell him.  We both share a much-needed stomach-workout guffaw at our crazy dances, and agree, it works.  Dancing works.  It calms our baby, and it calms us.  I often think of this image of my husband doing his frantic dance when I am alone with my crying baby and it always brings a smile to my face, and often a giggle to my lips.

And so.  Here, we dance--my one-month-old and me.  Michael Franti's "Say Hey (I love You)."  'Cause hey, I do.