They Say That Music Soothes The Savage Beast, But...

Music may also soothe the grumpy little monkey - or may, at least, soothe my grumpy little monkey, too. Amy handed the little guy off last night at about 2:30 because he was being fussy and she wanted to get some sleep, and I was just sitting here drinking coffee and trying to do some writing. I tried holding him for a bit - he likes to be held - and checked his diaper, but he was still fussy, and his diaper was dry. So I put him down in the crib in the room that is currently half my office and half his future bedroom, and told him to go fuss himself.

I also put on some music - the new Rush album, starting with "Far Cry," the first song. And by and by he got quiet and drifted off to sleep. I don't know if he actually heard the music or not - it was coming out of the not-so-mighty little speakers of my iBook, and I had a fan going in the room - but I decided that I would go ahead and pretend that it was the music - Rush, no less - that got him quiet.

Same deal tonight, except the handoff occurred about an hour earlier. He was fussier tonight than he was last night, and being held didn't seem to be the ticket, so I checked his diaper...which was dry when I checked it, but less so just a moment later. I was under the impression that babies cried to let you know that they had soiled themselves. Sometimes not. Sometimes they cry to let you know that the soiling is imminent but has not happened yet. So there he was with a dry diaper and a now-wet onesie, which meant that I had to change everything. Then I wrapped him up and put him down again, and he was still fussy.

More music! This time I tried the folk-rock stylings of local hipster Jennie DeVoe (and if you haven't heard any of Jennie's music, then, well...I can't help you), and he started to settle down. But get this - I fired up the Party Shuffle feature of iTunes and got "The Stranger," by Billy Joel. And Jack got fussy again! I went back to Jennie DeVoe, and he got quiet again, and eventually drifted off to sleep. Photographic evidence follows - the before shot is first.