Benny’s pain in the butt

Benny is all boy.
He’s so easy to figure out. Happy. Sad. Hungry. Tired.
No offense to you men out there. (Not that I need to worry about it since I’m guessing only a handful read mommy blogs.) But men and boy babies are pretty simple in my experience. Not a whole lot of fuss about figuring out complex emotions like with girls.
And last night, Benny was mad. And in pain.
The little mister had a monster case of gas. And he let us know about it at the top of his lungs at about 2 a.m.
He barked and writhed until we were able to squirt some medicine into his mouth. And then he wouldn’t be held, wiggling to get out of my arms.
His tantrum was interrupted only by periodic, labored toots. (Note to husband: no more buffet pizza for the Ben-Man.)
I finally gave up and put him on the carpet and sat down with him. I would have to let him cry it out.
I offered him a drink. A pacifier. His Elmo blanket. His favorite stuffed giraffe “baby.” He initially rejected all of these peacekeeping measures.
Eventually though, he accepted them all. But only on his terms. He wouldn’t take the cup out of my hand, but if I put it down, he walked over with a sullen look and grabbed it.
He was just mad.
Like he thought I had the ability to make his gas go away immediately, and I was just letting him suffer for fun.
Finally, I draped his Elmo blanket across my lap as I sat cross-legged on the floor in his dark room. He sat in the corner for a while watching me, grumpy with stormy eyes.
I looked away. Pretended I was sitting there for my own purposes. Minding my own business.
After a couple minutes, he got up and walked across the room to me. He turned around and dropped his diapered booty into my lap with a huff. I tried to stroke his hair, but he swatted my hand away.
After a moment, though, he leaned his head against my chest and let out a sigh.
The meds had kicked in. He was ready to be comforted.
His rage dissolved as quickly as it appeared. Normal Benny was back and ready to head back to the crib.
The whole process took about 20 minutes.

Almost like a gas bubble popping.