He's a Screamer

Sometime during the last two weeks, Snuggles developed an affinity for screaming.  A LOT of screaming.

Unless I'm physically holding Snuggles, he cries.  Sometimes he even cries when I'm holding him.  I sit him on the floor with his toys and balls, he cries. I put him in the bathtub (his favorite!), he cries.  I put him in the highchair to feed him, he cries between bites of food.  I can even sit with him on the floor in front of me, and he cries.  It seems like the only time the kid isn't crying, fussy, or just being all-around disagreeable is when:

1. I'm holding him
2. He's sleeping
3. There's a boob in his mouth.

And no, he's not teething.  [I have a dentist on speed dial just in case we need to order dentures.]

At first I thought Snuggles was just screaming at me.  But then the daycare told me Monday that he has been screaming at them, and in the process scaring all the other babies half to death.  He did the same thing to the babysitter who watched him at our house the other night. (Guitarman was out of town.)

Great. My son is that-kid-the-caregivers-dread-seeing-walk-in-the-door.  Craptastic.

We need to figure out why Snuggles is screaming so we can stop it.  Soon.

I did some reading on the topic last night, and I have my suspicions.  Developmentally, Snuggles has reached the stage pediatricians call "object permanence".  In other words, when something (or someone) is removed from his environment, Snuggles now recognizes that object (or person) is missing. So when Mommy leaves the room (or even looks like she might leave the room), baby is scared.  Why?  Because while he understands she is missing, he doesn't yet grasp that Mommy is coming back.  The realization that Mommy will return develops later.  [By the way, God, thanks a lot for that.]

Snuggles has been in three different daycare situations during the past month, right when he reached object permanence.  On top of the changing daycare environments, Snuggles got sick in the middle of it.  And then several new kids joined the daycare this week.  So he's in a new environment with a bunch of new kids.  I'm guessing his little 9-month-old brain is overloaded... and he just wants to be held for comfort.  I can understand why he's a little freaked out.

All the Motherhood-For-Dummies-type books assure me Snuggles' screaming will eventually stop.  If not, I'll pack his cute little butt into a flat-rate box, and ship him off to Nana. (Just kidding.)  In the meantime, I'm praying God will give me patience... and that the daycare doesn't charge Snuggles with inciting a baby-riot.