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!