The Baby Whisperer

THE BABY WHISPERER

As many of my facebook friends saw and commented on, this past Saturday night I spent a couple of hours holding a little baby in my arms. Little Mia Rost, daughter of my wife’s business partner and her hubby. To put a couple of questions to rest:

1. I’m not her father. Not really possible but that’s another story.
2. I’m not her grandfather. Boy wouldn’t that be a shock to my kids!
3. Yes, it’s true…I am a baby whisperer. Must have something to do with me being deeply in touch with my inner Peter Pan.

My training as  baby whisperer began with my first child, Allie Hope. For those of us that know Allie, we’ve have come to love her personality, energy, and the fact that if you ask her a question, you better have 30 – 45 minutes while she gives you an answer. She’s been just like this since the day she was born.

For the first 2 weeks after we brought Allie home from the hospital, we had Delois Dickerson, who gave me my initial training as baby whisperer. Not to sound like a racist but Delois was Hattie McDonald from Gone With The Wind. A very large and in charge black woman from Irvington, NJ. You did not mess with Delois and one of “my babies”

The day came for Delois to leave and within 2 hours my wife was having a meltdown, and so it began. Time to put those lessons to work. At the time, we were living in a one bedroom apartment on the upper west side. Allie slept in her crib, right next to our bed. Being that I am such a great husband (and the business I was working in that time wasn’t doing all that well), I often took the night shifts. I’d set myself up in the rocking chair in our living room, put a pillow in my lap, lay Allie down on the pillow and gentle rock back and forth, back and forth, while rubbing her back. If that didn’t work, there was always my shoulder and the baby bounce. Those usually did they trick.

I guess I forgot to mention that Allie was a colicky baby. Not full blown but she did have the colic kick down pretty good. Made for some long nights but was really good baby whisperer training.

In some ways, I think those nights that Allie and I spent together sealed the daddy daughter relationship we have now. We went from rocking chair to the TV in the bedroom; to our late night movie dates and SU games (Allie was the only one who watched the ’96 championship game with me as Linda and Zach were both fast asleep); to concerts, museums, and now her being my editor and IraSez cheerleader. As for Zach, well he didn’t really need to much whispering. You looked at him, said “sleep” and off he went…still does.

Although my whispering skills haven’t really been used for many, many moons, it’s nice to know I’ve still got it. And as for those of you that have been inquiring about my services…sorry…Ira does not whisper for just anyone.