A Practice Baby?!!?

Someone at work yesterday asked me how much experience that I had solely caring for a baby. The last time I had any experience with a real, live, crying baby was um, well… Never. The closest I came will go all the way back to 10th grade baby experiment that took place in our Parenting class.



How the parenting class ended up on my schedule is a bit hard for me to remember. I have to come to the conclusion that it was either a bunch of my friends were taking it, or I signed up for the elective to avoid another one in which I either had to add, subtract, or dissect something. Anyway, I still remember sitting in Mrs. Laraba’s classroom when the magical, crying babies were passed out to each of us, along with the key to make them stop crying. I believe they were called, “Baby Think it Over” dolls. Yes, Liberty High School in Glen Daniel, West Virginia had this wonderful technology. And this was back in 1999 folks!


The point of the project, was to learn what it was like to be a real live parent, with a real live crying baby. The baby would cry at different intervals of the day, and night, and to pacify this baby, you would insert a magic key into the baby’s back, and you would have to hold it until the baby made no more noise and , ‘fell back asleep’. The baby supposedly had sensors inside that would tell our teacher how many times we fed it with the miraculous key, or just ignored it and let it scream all night. It also would report any signs of abuse such as throwing it against a wall, pinching it, or anything like that. This would obviously grant you an automatic F = FAIL on the project which would bring down your entire grade since it counted for something like 30% of the final grade in the class.


When it was my turn to take care of “Baby Gumby” for the week, (that’s what I named him b/c his feet were sort of block shaped and flat like Gumby’s…. plus I really love Gumby, and Pokey!) everything started off so sweet and loving. I found myself being even being affectionate to Baby Gumby! Baby Gumby made no noise until he was hungry, and as his screaming would start, I just placed the key in his back and he stopped immediately. WOW. That was easy. I was gonna cover Baby Gumby in kisses for making this 100% A PLUS that I was going to receive so easy! The lil coos and ahhs he made as he was being fed with the key were so freakin’ adorable!!! Until he decided to start waking me up in the middle of the night. Oh Baby Gumby became SO not cute anymore. After waking at 11, 1, then 3 all in the same night on Tuesday, I was dreading what Wednesday was going to be like. Wednesday came around, and not only was I SO sleepy, but Baby Gumby was NOT sleepy. Oy vey.

Anyway, that night, when the cries started to erupt from this lil plastic doll, I inserted the key and it broke. Yes, the key broke into Baby Gumby’s back and now the cries seemed to get louder. And as I laid there for another hour of the crying, and realized that my mom and step-dad were probably about 2.5 seconds from throwing the baby threw the window, I took him outside, wrapped him up in some blankets and placed him in my car. While I didn’t get an automatic fail, I still passed the class! I still hold a special place for Baby Gumby in my heart.

These days the technology of these pretend babies are INSANE. The kids now wear bracelets with censors built in, and when the baby cries, they can actually burp them, feed them, change a diaper, etc. and when the censor moves over the area that the baby was crying about, he stops crying! Then there is a more specific printout the instructor can give the student to show how many feedings, naptimes, etc. that they missed. Sounds much better than a broken key!


Moral of this story…. I’ve got a lot to learn. ;)






P.s. FACEBOOK FRIENDS


I haven’t written back to you and I’m SO sorry. I don’t get on much and when I do, it’s through my cell phone, so I can’t write back the long responses I want to. So just email me at glitterbabyrae@gmail.com and I will be sure to receive your message and can write you back right away!


A lot of people have been asking me why I am having a child and am not married. I’m as sweet as it gets, and love everyone SO much but I have to say that was what ran me away from the church the first time. There are people having sex, doing drugs, and a whole lot worse going on, and for me to be a 28 year old woman who has been through hell and back, having just got my life back together and am SO in love with my Lord, I did mess up. But, what really happened, and why isn’t really anyone’s bid-ness. Except my close friends and family. So let’s just leave it at that. All I care about is that I am gonna have this baby and love on it constantly. It’s a blessing. And with that said… If you have any other questions, please don’t hesitate to let me know. You wouldn’t believe some of the things people say! Unreal. :-/


But I wanna leave this on a happy note….. It’s FRIDAY!!!!!!!!!! I think I may drive down to WV so everybody get ready for some Canterberry to come in to town!!!! It may get a little crazy.


:) Nah, not anymore. ;)