Explain to me again: why is she crying?
Newborns cry because they're hungry. Later, babies cry because they're tired or cranky. Crying becomes more and more emotional. But by the time they're a year old, babies can sometimes cry for reasons that just seem weird.
Ok. This first example is a complete mystery to me. I cannot explain it. Then again, I wasn't in the room when it happened.
I am spending two weeks in my hometown. My best friend has come over for a visit. She and my mom are playing with my baby while I am upstairs with my dad, printing something from the computer. Suddenly I hear crying. Shrieking, my-heart's-going-to-break crying. My mother and my friend are making soothing noises, trying to calm my daughter. Then they start laughing.
"What's up?" I ask as I make my way downstairs.
"She was standing, then fell on her bum," my friend explains. "Then your mom picked her up and held her for a minute. She stopped crying ..."
"And then," my mom continued, "we both started talking to her, and she seemed fine, until I told her that they both had the same name" (I gave my friend's name to my daughter for her middle name).
"Then she looked at me," my friend said, "and just started crying! As though she didn't like the idea of having the same name as me. So we both just started laughing."
See? Just plain weird.
The second incident happened yesterday, when my aunt came over for supper. We were all in the living room, and she was playing with my daughter, doing her very best to entertain her. My baby seemed to like my aunt very much, and it was obvious she found her amusing.
My aunt then sat on the sofa, and began playing "horsey" with my daughter's stuffed Winnie the Pooh bear. This is a game my daughter loves - she always laughs when I sit her on my knee and do a soft galloping motion. My aunt wanted to show her that Winnie could gallop too.
Only at one point, she made Winnie gallop very fast, until the bear was thoroughly shaken. We all thought this was cute and funny, and started to laugh. My daughter, who had been watching my aunt through the whole performance, suddenly began crying. The cries quickly turned to shrieks. She was obviously terrified. I suppose it must have been traumatizing, watching her bear's head hit its feet like that. I picked her up and held her, soothing her as best I could while at the same time attempting to stiffle my giggles. After she stopped crying, she turned her head and stared hard at my aunt, her brow set in a determined frown, and her eyes clearly saying: "You're not coming anywhere near me! And you're never touching my bear again either!"
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