Fun times with daddy

In our bag of tricks for soothing Joshua is one particular technique borrowed from our friends Erik and Erin, for dealing with baby gas: the football hold. Erik demonstrated this hold on their son, Luke, back when we went to visit them last year, and I remember thinking that it was crazy that Luke actually seemed to like it... Basically, you balance the baby face down on your forearm, so that your hand and forearm provide a steady pressure on the baby's lower abdomen. Here's Erik demonstrating with Luke:



It really does work, though -- if the reason for Joshua's fussiness is gas, then putting him in the football hold will calm him down instantly and help him work the kinks out of his system.

I posted the following photo of David with Joshua in the football hold on Facebook the other day:



And most of the comments I got were expressions of fear and anxiety for Joshua's safety...

I want to state, for the record, that I absolutely trust David with our son's life. He's just as concerned with safety as I am, and I know he wouldn't do anything to put Joshua in danger. (And our pediatrician actually used the football hold to test Joshua's neck strength at our visit last week -- so it's medically-sanctioned!)

But I have to say that David's "modified football hold" sometimes scares me. And if you were worried when you saw the normal football hold photo above, then perhaps you shouldn't scroll down to see the picture below...



I have to keep telling myself -- this really does help to calm Joshua, and David really does love to make Joshua "fly," and no one's gotten hurt yet...

And look at the expressions on their faces! I suppose that's worth the years it's shaved off my life...