Stone Soup by Jan Eliot for January 04, 2011

Take the vomiting one, Evie – at least he won’t have to be carried.

A guy vasectomy ad……….

Decisions decisions…

At least she’s honest. It’s the parents who say “Sure, here’s one!” and don’t say a word about any problems that drive me nuts.

Okay Evie keep going find some other kids that’s not sick who want outside for fresh air.

Now I know where the phrase, “Lesser of two evils,” comes from…

I’d go for the screaming one … he’ll fall asleep in no time!

But the up-chucker looks pretty happy by the end – I think he’s out of ammunition!

Yes, love Max’s expression in the last panel!

Musmo, screaming colicky one! Almost 26 years later, I still have vivid memories of my daughter having colick.

More than 31 years later I remember my colicky one. In the moms’ group, I was the only one standing and constantly bouncing my baby. All the other moms were on chaises with drink in hand!

Oops too late. You already offered.

That’s why I love this strip. Reality is always acknowledged. But with cheerfulness - neither Joan nor Evie is whining about it - they don’t pretend they don’t mind, but they just take it as it comes.

Luci is the screaming, colicky one? Max is the one who just threw up?

I’m just guessing - I’m not sure who’s which.

I remember baby-sitting a colicky boy who just wouldn’t stop screaming. I told him in a calm (not faked), serene voice that he could scream as much as he liked - I had put cotton in my ears, so I was ok - and his parents were for sure coming back later. He looked at me, took a deep breath, and went out like a light.

Kind of relieved I think - somewhere he had gotten the idea that he had to scream to make sure they came back. You know, like men have to bang pots and pans to stop the dragon eating the sun during an eclipse?

When his parents came back, he had been asleep for hours and was really rested. I think they thought I wasn’t supposed to be able to do this, because I wasn’t his real parent.

assumptions, assumptions…

RinaFarina, well you normally wouldn’t be able to talk a colicky baby out of screaming, seeing they’re normally from about 1-3 months old… (see here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baby_colic )

My son’s colic lasted 5 long months almost 29 years ago. I could handle the screaming, but not the vomit. Still can’t!