Often, when I rise to the day, I think:
What new fun will I discover in my Little Prince Avi today?
The pleasure is soon mine. The strange answer today is that
Avi has a delightful fear of abandonment.
Abandonment?
Pray tell, should not a parent tremble with dew drops of sweat at the thought?
No worries. Because (to oversimplify) I reckon everyone feels alone at times, especially babies.
But there’s a major problem with Avi’s case of the Lonely Blues.
He sings a high-decibel tune in the morning that is NOT exactly rhythmic to your sleeping pattern. In other words, we wish he’d sleep longer in the mornings.
We’ve been up for a short spell on most days when, suddenly, he realizes his role as the Omega Man in the world. What a feeling of singularity it must be for Prince Avi. His knights have fled the scene. Bedside acreage has expanded. The night has grown old.
In the early morning’s darkness, I can only imagine how Avi realizes his wool-lined castle is more house than he needs. He’s become its only tenant. His parents are no longer flanking him in his bedside cocoon. There’s only once choice for Avi Boy. So with all his might, it’s time to be All For One And One For All. Avi raises his ire.
It’s gutteral and punctual, yet, perhaps weirdly, I find his 10-gun morning reverie endearing. There’s certainly no need for the extra projection we’ve wired the house to accommodate from the Fisher Price monitor in the faraway kitchen. What a silly purchase that contraption turned out to be. Avi has no problem worrying that his ardent pleas will fall upon deaf ears. He’s ready for mommy’s breast.
Later, the whitecaps of panic calm. The morning light waxes into warm feelings for life again as Little Prince smiles and laughs. I’m left wondering: Is too much of a good thing bad? In other words, should we have taught Avi how to sleep in his vacant, abandoned, dust-gathering crib from the beginning? -- instead of letting him get used to the comfort of his parents’ presence. Has the ubiquity of our smothered love spoiled our little son?
For now, there’s no need to answer those questions. I’m not an expert in baby behavior 101. I’ll just do what my heart tells me is best. I’ll error on the side of his feelings for comfort.
Making sure the Avster knows we’re nearby to help is presently the best response. We want Avi to know we’re there for him at all times. That’s a good feeling – and, like the proverbial over protective parents that we are (join the club!), that’s the blanket of security we want Avi to wear.
