Right now my eardrums feel as though they might quite literally burst.  My family is being regularly exposed to sound and pitch decibels that would make any doctor shudder, and any member of this family would be quite happy to leave the house for any reason at all if it means we can get away from the noise. Lily has become a screamer.  She has an ear piercing, heart stopping, headache inducing, full on scream.  I'm talking like a horror movie scream.  If she doesn't like something - she screams.  She wants something - she screams.   She wants me to look at her - she screams.   She wants Maggie to take her outside - she screams.  I could go on and on, except my brain is too tired to think about all those horrible moments.  I didn't realize that having to listen to that noise all day would be physcally exhausting and emotionally draining.  I've talked to people, I've googled "how to shush my screaming rotten child" (ok, not exactly in those words), and nothing has worked.  We try whispering to model good behavior. I try to ignore her when I can, but really how do you ignore that?!  She's screaming for a reason.  She's trying to communicate her needs, so I need to respond in some way.  Which is usually by doing what she wants, while quietly telling her that she doesn't need to scream at the top of her lungs to get my attention.  Yeah, that's not working either.

Last Sunday at church Reas and I took turns staying out in the halls with her during all of church.  There was no sense in even trying.  A few days ago, at the grocery store, one of the cashiers actually said to me, "If you bring her through my line, I'll just scream right back at her."  I'm feeling like an A+ mom right now.

It's kind of funny, sad, ironic, all of the above, how not all that long ago I was thinking about how I was so happy that I've never had a screamer. And what dreadful thing is it that those poor parents are doing to cause their babies to think they need to scream about everything.  Um...yeah.  Tough blow, oh pefect mommy.