Imagine a baby who never fell asleep in the car without screaming until he passed out. Imagine the same baby screaming for hours at night before falling asleep in his crib. Imagine a baby that was only sort of calm when held while being bounced. And this went on for 18 months. I was there for the birth and had to fly immediately to start grad school. I remember picking my wife up at the airport two weeks later (almost exactly 29 years ago). As she is coming down the stairs, our baby is screaming a blood curdling scream. She looks at me confused and says, "I don't know what is going on. He never cried before this." Exact quote that I remember like it was yesterday.

My wife and I always told ourselves to be patient and he would turn out to be an exceptional child and man. And he did. He is a wonderful, loving, sweet boy with a great sense of humor. A much better man than I am. And he has a two month old son of his own now with colic and who never stops crying.

Hang in there. I count as one of my greatest accomplishments in life the patience in suffering that I learned through that experience as a young father.