Dec. 10, 2001 - 18:50 MST

THE WONDERING JEW

Oft Agley

In 1948, at the age of twenty seven I felt that I was mature, common sense and far seeing. Yeah right !

A second child, a beautiful baby girl lived in her bassinet in our house, she hadn't been around very long. She was a good baby back then, but Heather ran a little short on sleep most of the time, because of the middle of the night feeding frenzy and didy change.

Enter the villain, me, with good intentions. I worked the four to midnight shift, which put me home at about twelve twenty AM. Although I snuck in as quietly as I could along about that time she would begin to stir, wake and want attention. So I put her bottle on to warm, changed her diaper and the bedclothes. That in itself was a henious crime I was later told. About that time her bottle would be wrist tested and old dumb pop would sit in the rocker, feed the baby her bottle while rocking and saying sweet nothings. Heather was able to sleep all night for a little while.

Tragedy then, I was put on days and couldn't wake as a Mother does when the baby stirs, so it was up to Heather again. Man was I put in the lowest, darkest dungeon in the doghouse. I pled with her to tell me what she was mad about. It boiled down to the simple fact that when the baby gives a bottle cry in the middle of the night, a bottle is warmed and put in its mouth and Mama going quietly back to bed.

With this baby, that just didn't work. Heather had to go through the routine I had established, changing of night clothes, bed clothes, and sitting in the rocker and rocking her while she fed. Lead balloon, no ? Unfortunately Heather when kept awake for just a few minutes couldn't get back to sleep.

It took a lot of peace making and extra duty for me to get in Heathers good graces again. Dumb Daddies just didn't know boo about tending a baby in the middle of the night. What added insult to injury were the statements I had made about how much I enjoyed my time with the baby while all slept.

Bobby Burns had words to the effect decribing my predicament, "The best laid plans of mice and men gang Oft Agley" . . . . . . . . .

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