In the New Yorker...

[Jeff Wrangler]

My June 28 issue arrived today. I just finished Ian Frazier's appreciation of Janet Malcolm.

[Front-Ranger]

That was a lovely tribute. I voraciously read about sleep training but I was indifferent to the article about pets, and I don't know why. I enjoyed Shouts & Murmurs this week about aliens commenting on our culture. I loved the sketchbook of lifeguard Fauci. I tried to read the fiction "Offside Constantly" but was only able to complete 4 pages.

[Jeff Wrangler]

I would like to hear what Brokies who are mothers have to say about that article about getting babies to sleep. Y'all have been there, haven't y'all?

[Front-Ranger]

One thing is true: "You will not escape the cry." What they're describing in the article, "extinguishment", sometimes works, but sometimes does not. Also, what long-term impacts does leaving a child alone to cry at night have on their memories, their well-being, and their relationship with their parents? (I almost said mother, but we have to acknowledge that it is both parents who are leaving the child alone.)

I recall using a different approach with my daughter. I left her alone as she was playing one day for a few minutes when I went round the corner in the kitchen, keeping an ear open for any distress. I also left her alone sometimes when she was playing in the nursery. The door was open and she could hear me puttering around. In the evening her dad or I would read her a story when we put her to bed (awkward as we had to stand by the crib) and then we would be in the room until she fell asleep, reading, folding laundry, etc. We had some kind of noise cancelling thing we would play that made the sound of a heartbeat or ocean.

My daughter stopped taking naps when she was less than a year old which was inconvenient for me, but I adjusted. With my son, he ended up sleeping in my bed until he was about 13 months old. Every time I would try to lower him into the crib after feeding him and rocking him to sleep, it would trigger him to wake up. He also stopped napping at a young age. I was sleep deprived for about six years, LOL!

[serious crayons]

Letting the baby play on her own with the door open while you putter outside the room seems like a good solution!

Most parents these days follow the Ferber Method, which involves responding quickly at first, then letting a child cry for slightly longer every night. I think we did some version of that.

[Jeff Wrangler]

Thank you, both. My mother once told me that every time she tried to put me down I would cry. She said she thinks I had colic.

While I read that article I kept thinking of Mrs. Merriwether telling Capt. Butler to put quinine on Bonnie Blue's thumb to stop her from sucking it. 

[serious crayons]

Thank you, both. My mother once told me that every time she tried to put me down I would cry. She said she thinks I had colic.

While I read that article I kept thinking of Mrs. Merriwether telling Capt. Butler to put quinine on Bonnie Blue's thumb to stop her from sucking it. 

I think -- don't know for sure -- that colicky babies cry even when they're being held.

And it worked, she stopped sucking it! Oh wait, it wasn't just the quinine. (Sorry, bad taste -- no pun intended.)

[Front-Ranger]

I got an apologetic email from TNY today saying that my subscription wasn't being automatically renewed and thus I wasn't getting my issues. What terrible timing. Lately I rely on it to keep me sane. I now feel like I'm missing out and may have to go to a newsstand (if they still have them) and buy a copy.

[Jeff Wrangler]

I've read the July 5 article about Kyle Rittenhouse, the knucklehead who murdered two men in Kenosha.

One thing about that episode has intrigued me: Where did his family come from?

Rittenhouse is an old and honored Philadelphia name. Rittenhouse Square is the nicest park in Center City. In the 18th century, David Rittenhouse (1732-1796) was an amazing individual: astronomer, inventor, mathematician, member of the American Philosophical Society, member of the Royal Society, first superintendent of the U.S. Mint, treasurer of Pennsylvania, and on, and on.

He surveyed the boundary between Pennsylvania and Delaware and did such a good job of it that it was incorporated into the work of Mason and Dixon.

So where did Kyle Rittenhouse's family come from?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Rittenhouse 

[serious crayons]

I got an apologetic email from TNY today saying that my subscription wasn't being automatically renewed and thus I wasn't getting my issues. What terrible timing. Lately I rely on it to keep me sane. I now feel like I'm missing out and may have to go to a newsstand (if they still have them) and buy a copy.

I haven?t received  any since I moved ? my subscription didn?t auto renew, either. I called them, reinstated it, and at least two weeks later still haven?t seen one. I think I can access a lot online, though.