The Many States of Audrey

People always told me that as a parent, you can determine what your kids want (mainly) by their cries, even if those cries sound the same to an outsider. It doesn't seem to be 100% true, but I have noticed that Audrey has several "states" that don't really overlap. A sampling:

1. Happy Audrey: We get this one a lot, and we are glad of it. She has three or four different smiles/happy faces that she uses, mostly for Paul and I (and of course Headboard - see post #1) but increasingly, she will use them on strangers, especially baby-related strangers (other moms, women who are running various mom and baby groups). Today at mom-baby group she was smiling at the group leader for several minutes. She is also starting to branch out into noises - ah and awk and woo and a few cries that sound like a pterodactyl that I can't quite tell if they are happy or leading up to crying


2. Screaming Audrey: Don't like this one. It's not just crying, but full-out, turning purple, choking-on-her-own-cry screaming. Doesn't happen too often, and is usually fixable by nursing except for one night last week when it went on for 1.5 hours and was only cured by the resolution of her gastrointestinal problems


3. Crying Audrey: Ranges from the occasional cry when I am out of sight (hey mom, over here!) to a continual, mid-range cry that sounds like "lie, lie, lie." I try not to take this as a judgement on my parenting (example: Kay: "I'll be right there to feed you, Audrey, I just need to get a glass of water..." Audrey: Lie, lie, lie!)


4. Grumbly Audrey: Usually happens as she's waking up. Not crying per se, but little grumbling sounds that foreshadow crying if something is not changed. I actually like this state - I call her "grumbly baby" which has a nice ring to it ("Aw, grumbly baby...")


5. Silent Audrey: Sometimes means she is gearing up to cry, sometimes means she has her fist in her mouth and wants to eat, sometimes means she is resigned that whatever we are doing with her/showing her is kind of boring (if she even knows what boredom is) and sometimes is just a transition state - it could [hopefully] break into Happy Audrey as soon as she smiles at mommy or daddy