Taking care of a Baby
By Omar Oughourli
So recently I took care of a baby for human development. It was the hardest thing I have ever had to do. No joke. Well okay maybe a little. So anyway, the baby was actually a RealCare 3 baby, meaning it cries if it’s hungry or pooped itself, the whole works. It’s an amazing piece of technology really. The first day was hard for me because I had to get used to it crying ALL THE TIME. I truly understand how parents feel now, I mean, in the “no more free time” department. You can’t do anything like you used to. No more lounging on the couch, no more napping (which I don’t do, but you get the idea), and no more sitting on the computer all the time (which I DO do). I knew it was going to cry at the middle of the night, but I didn’t care anyway. I wanted to cry. “Please, for the love of God, LET ME SLEEP!” I said painfully.
The second day was worse. I remember when my sister had it, she had it easy. When I had it, let’s just say I don’t think babies should cry seven times in three hours to be fed 10 minutes straight EVERY TIME (that’s right, this baby is a demon, WHO THE HECK DRINKS FOR 10 MINUTES STRAIGHT!!?? I CAN”T EVEN DO THAT!!!). I mean I get the diaper changing part, but FEEDING LIKE THAT!? Nope. That’s a freakin’ world record right there. You should have seen the tiny milk bottle. Or should I say a genie milk bottle, since it had like 10 minutes worth of milk. That right there is ingenuity. Why don’t we have water bottles like that? Whatever.
The third day was the last day, and it was no different. I forgot to mention my stupidity. So in order to take care of it you had to have this bracelet that “allows” you to take care of the baby, otherwise it won’t work with anyone else. And you can’t take it off, obviously. But here’s where my stupidity comes in. So when the teacher was putting it on, she asked me if it was too tight, and I said it was “okay”. Oh lord was I wrong. See, because I was too excited about the whole thing at the time, I didn’t feel it. But after a while, the “itch” set in. The “itch” was a funny thing. You can’t touch the bracelet too much, otherwise it might look suspicious. So I did what any 17 year old boy with a promising mind would do, I touched the bracelet too much. Don’t worry, nothing bad happened, I got used to it in the end anyway. Looking back on it now, it’s clear that the worst of it was waking up at 3:00 a.m. to take care of a soulless machine for a grade, yay science. I got a 97/100 anyway. Also my sister helped A LOT, but that’s between you and me. So shush.
Wow, reading this makes me appreciate my parents even more. Babies are a lot of work!