Patience, my dear child

But if we hope for what we do not yet observe, we eagerly wait for it with patience. (Romans 8:25)

We are learning more and more about baby Naomi's personality and she amazes me with the amount of patience she shows at times... as well as what happens when the patience runs out! On the way home from South City, Naomi fell asleep in the car, but when she woke up, we were in the middle of a huge traffic jam. She started whining at first, but it progressed until she eventually was full-on screaming as though she was going to lose her voice! I felt so bad for her so I exited in San Francisco popped her in her Snugli and cruised a shopping center for about an hour. I thought the traffic would have died down but due to the changes on the Bay Bridge, we were barely moving. Naomi started to whine again, but when I gently explained to her that we already went for a walk and asked her to please go to sleep, she did listen. Even though it took me an hour to drive what should have been 20 minutes, I was able to get home in peace and quiet =)

Today, on her 4 months birthday, again she showed me two totally opposite sides of herself: extreme temper and gentle patience. Mimi threw her first temper tantrum in our studio. I took her for a walk outdoors in the Snugli and when she fell asleep I came back home and placed her in her bassinet. She woke up in a good mood and it had been three hours since she last ate, so I decided to feed her. After a few sips, she started crying. I tried to calm her down and offer her more food, but that just made her cry harder. NO, Mommy, that's NOT what I want! I changed her diaper and she cried harder. I'm SO ANGRY right now! I tried carrying her several different holds. NOOOO! Mommy, you're making it WORSE! I tried bringing her outside and she was okay for two seconds and began screaming again! Mommy, can't you read my cry!? She was just about as upset as when she was in her carseat in San Diego, but this time, there was no car seat! I then thought of going for a walk again in her Snugli and when she saw me putting it on, she stopped crying. Now, we're getting somewhere, Mommy. When I placed her in it, she smiled =) Yippee, you figured it out! Whew! *wiping my brow* What a relief! She was probably only crying for less than 5 minutes, but it seemed like an eternity! Moments like those, I soooo wish she could already speak, or better yet, that I really could just read her mind and bring her instant happiness.

On the flipside of things, that same evening, Naomi brought much happiness to Richie and myself. Maybe she knew, she had to make up for her temper tantrum earlier =) Rich and I are going to have Naomi baptized at St. Joseph's and they require us to take a class (Fortunately, the godparents that we chose do not have to take the class because their babies were recently baptized) I found out about the class only hours before, so I didn't have the packet with the information regarding the class. Richie and I thought about leaving Naomi at her grandparent's house down the street from the church, but ended up taking her with us. Well, it turns out that she was the only baby there and then when I read the packet, it said "NO CHILDREN: Please, find a babysitter for the evening." OOPSIES! I'm sure the reason they have this rule is because having a baby there could be a major distraction. Attending to a baby could take away from learning in the class. I just hoped she wouldn't end up causing a scene like she had earlier in the day.

Naomi sat in her carrier for the first 20 minutes while facing the rest of the class and didn't say a peep. She played with her "lovey-bear" and her bib. Then when the instructor began writing on the board, we faced her towards the teacher and Mimi began cooing quietly. It wasn't annoying though, it was actually cute... like she was paying attention and responding to the lesson =) Then for the last half hour, the entire class watched a video with the lights dimmed, so Richie and I took turns holding her. She was hardly fussy and didn't cry once in the entire hour that we were there! Afterwards, several people told us/her what a good baby she is =) I had prayed that Mimi would be a good girl... she ended up being an absolute angel! Thank you for your patience, Mimi-Girl!