New Mama

Janelle is taking a Child Development class and it was time for the dreaded baby simulator assignment. Basically the student brings home a baby in a car seat along with a change of clothes, diaper, bottle and so forth. There is actually a computer inside this baby doll and so it cries and will only stop if the care giver figures out what she needs and does it (feeding, burping, diaper change, rocking). The baby makes sucking noises when feeding, burps, cries...the whole gamut. The first evening after rehearsal Janelle gave the baby to Jenna to babysit (along with a whole list of instructions) since she had to work. Jenna did a great job, but it was a little stressful because sometimes the baby would cry and cry (loudly) and we were all trying to help out and figure out what needed to be done. It seriously took up the whole evening. We were all tired and wanted to go to bed but it was like, "Ummm, what do we do with this crying baby?" Plus we didn't want Janelle to get a poor grade in the report that would automatically be sent to the teacher. Rick finally took over until Janelle got home from work. He wasn't feeling well and had been sleeping on and off all day anyway.

That night the baby only woke up a couple of times in the night but Janelle was so stressed over when she would start crying that she didn't sleep much. The next day the family was in quarantine and so we all got to experience the joy of a screaming baby throughout the day on top of the quarantine and Covid-stress. That night the baby woke up 12 times during the night (according to Janelle). Okay, that is a little much. Thankfully Janelle slept in a room by herself so as to not wake up the entire household. The frequent cries during the night was the only negative comment I wrote in my evaluation. I mean 12 times? Seriously? Overall I think it was a successful experiment. Janelle took her responsibility very seriously. The whole family was relieved when the two days/nights were over and the baby computer was "shut off." Wow, things have sure changed from when Janika had a similar class and brought home a sack of flour for a baby. I guess that was intermediate school though, not high school. Rick said that whenever this assignment rolls around at his school he tells his seminary students to send their baby to "the nursery" and lets the secretary take care of them all!