The Evolution of Crying

Charlie's and Bruno's cries started off rather inoffensive and sympathetic, a single medium pitch started by a consonant -- either "Mmmaaaaah!" or "Nnnaaaah!" But I've seen enough of babies to know that it doesn't stay that way. They seem to develop the ability to curdle all blood within earshot using only their vocal cords. These boys seem to be headed in that direction. Recently, they have developed what Katy and I call the "Goat" cry. They only use it when they deem it absolutely necessary, so I'm still able to document a comparison. Here is the original "Nnnaaah," courtesy of Charlie:

And here, courtesy of Bruno, though both have mastered it, is the newest weapon in their arsenal. I know it will get even worse, but I would say this is not for the faint of heart:

It strikes me how energy-inefficient this form of communication is. It clearly takes the babies a lot of effort to make such a racket, and it's not necessary. If they just peeped, "Hello, parents, I'm hungry/cold/burpy/poopy" using some sort of brief and gentle gesture, I'm sure that would suffice to bring us to their side 90% of the time. I can only surmise that this type of gut-wrenching crying is left over from the days when there weren't enough resources to care for all the babies. The only equivalent to this in my world is when you're trying to get some approval past a chain of bureaucrats. Too bad this form of communication is not considered appropriate in that case!

Gotta go... I hear a "nnaaahhh!" from across the room...