Thursday, August 21, 2008

My Baby is scared of a...PHRASE??

Okay, so the WEIRDEST thing happened yesterday afternoon. I was changing the baby's diaper, and I started singing the theme song of "Little Einsteins" to him while I was changing him.

I sing to him a lot. In fact, he really loves it. So imagine my surprise, when I finish up and zerbert his tummy and notice that he's got his lower lip jutting out and quivering (as it does right before he bursts out crying) and his eyes had filled with tears. I immediately pulled his shorts back off to make sure I hadn't diapered him too tight/pinched something in the process/missed anything. Everything seemed fine. So I started to sing the Little Einsteins theme song to him again, while I pulled his shorts back on.

He BURST OUT CRYING. And we're talking FREAKED OUT crying. I scooped him up and soothed him, and it took a good ten minutes of him hysterically sobbing (he even cried himself into spots on his forehead) before he finally calmed down and stopped. He was hiccuping and very very sad.

I couldn't figure out what was wrong. I wracked my brain, trying to figure it out. Was it his teeth? I started singing one of his favorite songs to him, and he wasn't upset, so it wasn't my singing. Then I had a thought. Was it the Little Einsteins theme song?

He had totally calmed down, so I looked at him with a smile and started softly singing the theme song to him for "Little Einsteins."

INSTANT HYSTERICS.

This time, it took a good fifteen minutes to calm him down. He wanted nothing to do with me. Like I was some monster. It's the strangest thing I have ever seen! Scared of a song? He watches Little Einsteins on Disney once in a while. He doesn't burst into hysterics then. So, what was the deal?

Hubby came home and I had to run to a Stampin' Up! party, so I left it to Thing One to tell him what happened.

After I came home, Hubby wanted me to take the baby to the dr. He said the boys were telling him about our "episode" and they said the words "Little Einsteins" and when the baby heard them say THE WORDS, he burst out crying again.

So, apparently my 15-month old has an intense reaction to the phrase "Little Einsteins." He also woke up screaming at 1am this morning, and needed to be rocked back to sleep. (This is not a common thing for him, he usually sleeps very peacefully.)

Luckily he has his well-checkup with his dr. on Monday. So I can ask her if she's ever heard of anything like that in her life.

I am at a loss, here. Anyone have this happen to them? A baby who freaks out over a couple of words? He's had a very good, happy life so far, no trauma, nothing. Thing One and I were theorizing that maybe he had a nightmare at one point that involved the Little Einsteins, but other than that, we're stumped.
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Update: I went for broke and started singing the song while I was feeding him his morning Cheerios. He smiled and started singing WITH me! I even said "Little Einsteins" a few times and he didn't act upset at all. Was it just that yesterday was a weird day?

????????????????

4 comments:

Michelle Miles said...

Weird. I think I'd banish the show from my house. hehe I've never heard of such a thing. Maybe he did have a nightmare or something. Poor little guy!

Anonymous said...

Okay, I've NEVER heard of that and I have four kids. But at least you have something to either embarrass (or torture) him with when he's a teenager.

Hopefully, it will pass.

Aimee said...

Don't the Baby Einstein videos have those freaky puppets? I was babysitting for a friend once and put in the video per her recommendation. I thought some of the images were kind of scary, the same way that clowns can be scary. Maybe yours is different, but if not, maybe it is the association of the song with the puppets?

Unknown said...

I've been dumbfounded so many times as to why one of my boys reacted a certain way to something that I have officially lost count. I don't recall a particular phrase eliciting that kind of reaction, but my guess is that you are probably right and it was from a nightmare. Your update makes it sound like it was a passing thing.