Angels all around us

Yeserday a young(!) couple came in with their infant daughter. First the father took his placement tests, and the mother sat in our waiting area and got the baby settled down for a nap. Then, when the father had finished his tests, Mom went in to take hers. Dad woke the baby up, and played with her a bit. After a while the baby started to fuss. He gave her a pacifier and bounced her, but she still kept fussing, louder and louder. Embarassed, he took her and all her gear out into the hall. She kept getting louder and louder in spite of everything he did and you could hear that her screams were angry. I was helping another older woman and we exchanged wry smiles at the fury in that little voice, and then we heard him say, in intense frustration,."Would you just shut up?!" Like a shot, we both flew out the door to offer grandmotherly assistance, and from down the hall came two more women and a young man, all prepared to Save That Baby! "She's probably pretty warm. That little snowsuit is a really good one," said the young man, evidently a daddy himself. "She sounds hungry," opined one of the women. "Do you have a bottle for her? We can warm it in the staff microwave." Another woman had the tyke in her arms and was walking her around, distracting her with the bright picture on the wall. Divested of snowsuit and with warm bottle in mouth, the infant twinkled at all of us, and the young father had a few more options in his child-care arsenal.

Now I, fercrysakes, am no expert on infant care, but I could not stand by and let that young man get angry at his baby. I was just suprised and delighted that so many other people felt the same way. There may be more help available to us than we know how to ask for.