Hail Marys, open-field blocks, scrambling...these are all terms we've been hearing this week during the Super Bowl frenzy. But, today I hear about another important activity seen (though maybe not acknowledged) around the TV sets of America: "The Super Bowl Shut Down."
That's how a sensitive, attentive mom describes her baby's activities on Sunday.
Ahmad is a full-term, healthy baby boy. He is blessed with the love and attention of his mother and a caring community of friends and family. And, Sunday he attends his first Super Bowl game. Instead of wings, beer and brauts he feasts on mother's milk.
Though this two-week-old has periods of alertness when he looks intently at his mother's face, follows his auntie's voice, and relaxes into his neighbor's gentle hands, this little one seems at first "bored" with the world of football. After short nursing spurts, he slumbers into a "gone from the world" sleep and is finally placed in his Pack 'n' Play beside the TV.
"But, I've watched your HUG DVD," Mom reports, "so I didn't worry a bit! I could tell that all the excitement and commotion of our neighbor's family room was just causing him to 'Shut Down.'"
Mom goes on to explain that the baby rested well during the entire game then woke up for another feed and alert time with Mom when they got home. She reflects on how satisfying it was to see her baby "manage" the exuberant stimulation around him by "Shutting Down." She recognizes this ability as a sign of his physical skills, his budding competence. "If I hadn't seen the DVD I might have worried that something's wrong. Maybe he can't hear? Maybe he is fragile? Or, (worst yet) maybe he doesn't like football!"
Mom and I decide that Ahmad has just invented one of the newest, and coolest, football moves: "The Super Bowl Shut Down". He's a superstar already!