Once Upon a Time...

... there was a little baby princess. We'll call her Natalimpossible. Poor little Natalimpossible was a very difficult baby. She would cry and scream often, arching her back as if in pain, writhing around when held and waking very frequently at night. The only things that comforted the baby were nursing and being carried. As she approached 6 months of age, she worsened until she could never be put down without great distress and she was waking every 60-90 minutes throughout the night. First, the concerned King and Queen sought a variety of explanations, from colic to teething. Eventually, as no medical cause could be found, it was determined that Natalimpossible was cursed with the worst of conditions: a demon called "a high-needs temperment". This plague would inflict the girl perhaps her whole life. The princess continued to grow more and more fussy until the Queen was carrying Natalimpossible all day long, leading to great back pain, and tending to her crying all night, which led to grumpiness, impatience and general misery. The Queen grew exhausted and resentful, feeling her needs for rest would never be met. The King, when not occupied by the needs of the kingdom, tried to help little Natalimpossible as much as he could, but things only seemed to worsen. Finally one night, after little Natalimpossible's 5th time waking , the Queen brought Natalimpossible into the royal bedchamber with her so that she would not need to get up every time the infant sought comfort. The King, concerned that his manly stature would crush the small child in his sleep, left the bedchamber to sleep on the couch along with the royal canine. The King and Queen, both exhausted, extensively researched the terrible curse. Unfortunately, though the archives included many a tale of similairly impossible babies, there seemed to be no cure except to try to meet the baby's endless needs as much as possible. This result did not satisfy the Queen, who was at her wits end constantly carrying the child, who no weighed as much as three sacks of sugar, and spending most of the night tending to her. The Queen slumped into depression and would that she had remained a maiden rather than care for little Natalimpossible and Natalimpossible hated life and was utterly miserable for all of her days. The end.