On a not so summery day in August, we celebrated our wedding anniversary by driving our kids and almost five-year old niece to what she called, “Hannah Montana.” The drive went smoother than thought and sure enough when the moon came out, the kids went down.
But not for long.
On days when Calli is overtired, she can wake up in the middle of the night completely hysterical. Definitely not asleep and not totally awake, just crying, yelling, inconsolable. And the worst part is she can stay that way for a long while.
So when she started to stir in her car seat and mutter unrecognizable words, I began to panic. NO WAY ARE YOU WAKING UP THE OTHER KIDS IN THIS CAR!
I leaned back and tried to soothe her. Not helping. I climbed in the back seat to where I could see and talk to her better. Didn’t work. Out of desperation, I (don’t report me) put her on my lap and buckled her in. Come on girl. It is late and we are only 45 minutes away from our stopping point for the night. NO WAY ARE YOU WAKING UP THE OTHER KIDS IN THIS CAR!
Too late.
Luke gets going and keeps going too. Aah, the crying chorus. A personal favorite of mine, especially in the car.
Though I can’t remember exactly now, somehow I was situated (since I was holding Calli) that I only had one free hand. And both of my children needed it. The only way I could get Luke to stop crying was if I gently rubbed his face. Thing is, that’s exactly what Calli needed too. So I’d get Luke to calm down and move my hand over to Calli and he’d start back up again. I’d move it back over to Luke and then she’d go on. Wow.
But not for long.
On days when Calli is overtired, she can wake up in the middle of the night completely hysterical. Definitely not asleep and not totally awake, just crying, yelling, inconsolable. And the worst part is she can stay that way for a long while.
So when she started to stir in her car seat and mutter unrecognizable words, I began to panic. NO WAY ARE YOU WAKING UP THE OTHER KIDS IN THIS CAR!
I leaned back and tried to soothe her. Not helping. I climbed in the back seat to where I could see and talk to her better. Didn’t work. Out of desperation, I (don’t report me) put her on my lap and buckled her in. Come on girl. It is late and we are only 45 minutes away from our stopping point for the night. NO WAY ARE YOU WAKING UP THE OTHER KIDS IN THIS CAR!
Too late.
Luke gets going and keeps going too. Aah, the crying chorus. A personal favorite of mine, especially in the car.
Though I can’t remember exactly now, somehow I was situated (since I was holding Calli) that I only had one free hand. And both of my children needed it. The only way I could get Luke to stop crying was if I gently rubbed his face. Thing is, that’s exactly what Calli needed too. So I’d get Luke to calm down and move my hand over to Calli and he’d start back up again. I’d move it back over to Luke and then she’d go on. Wow.
Finally, she woke up enough to make a little sense. Or at least listen to it. I began a conversation that could have been written for Jack on Will and Grace (Don’t report me for that either. I promise I kicked that habit long before the show went off the air.) —insanely fast, a little childlike and quite comical. I just simply started talking. Anything that came to my mind. A beautiful distraction.
“Hey Calli, we’re driving. We’re driving on a road. Do you see that the road has lines on it? I see white lines on the road. Do you see white lines on the road? (I did not pause for a second or leave room for her to answer. I couldn’t let there be any chance she could start crying again.) I see yellow lines too. The lines are broken up. Do you see the broken lines on the road? I see green trees. Do you know what else is green? The signs by the road are green. Do you know where we are going? We are going to Aunt Ruth’s house. But Ruth’s not there. She’s out of town. She lives by the temple. I see the temple. I see the top of the temple. Do you remember what is on top of the temple? This temple is by the water. I see the water. Do you see the water? It is moving. I see the lights on the road. I see the red lights. Oh, now they are green. Now we can go. We can keep going to Ruth’s house. We are going to sleep there. Except Ruth’s not going to be there. Remember how I said Ruth’s not going to be there? But we’re going to be there any minute. I can see her house. Can you see her house? We are turning by her house.”
It went on like that for a SOLID forty five minutes. It went on like that while I sat squished between an infant car seat and luggage, with a back twisted funny so I could fit, while holding my toddler and (remember) using my one free hand to soothe my baby. Exhausting. Physically hard it was, but I think it was worse to be so spastic. By the time we got there, my brain was worn out too.
I guess it doesn’t get any better than that.
“Hey Calli, we’re driving. We’re driving on a road. Do you see that the road has lines on it? I see white lines on the road. Do you see white lines on the road? (I did not pause for a second or leave room for her to answer. I couldn’t let there be any chance she could start crying again.) I see yellow lines too. The lines are broken up. Do you see the broken lines on the road? I see green trees. Do you know what else is green? The signs by the road are green. Do you know where we are going? We are going to Aunt Ruth’s house. But Ruth’s not there. She’s out of town. She lives by the temple. I see the temple. I see the top of the temple. Do you remember what is on top of the temple? This temple is by the water. I see the water. Do you see the water? It is moving. I see the lights on the road. I see the red lights. Oh, now they are green. Now we can go. We can keep going to Ruth’s house. We are going to sleep there. Except Ruth’s not going to be there. Remember how I said Ruth’s not going to be there? But we’re going to be there any minute. I can see her house. Can you see her house? We are turning by her house.”
It went on like that for a SOLID forty five minutes. It went on like that while I sat squished between an infant car seat and luggage, with a back twisted funny so I could fit, while holding my toddler and (remember) using my one free hand to soothe my baby. Exhausting. Physically hard it was, but I think it was worse to be so spastic. By the time we got there, my brain was worn out too.
What about my niece you say? Slept through the whole thing.
Miracles do happen.
As we opened the car door in Aunt Ruth’s driveway we, all five us, were wide awake. The clock was near midnight and in a no time, Mackenzie (my golden niece) was climbing a pole in the basement and Calli was singing show tunes at the top of her lungs. Energy, anyone?
But obedient Mackie followed her mother to bed (I told you she was golden) and Dan took Calli in a room upstairs to calm her down. I stayed in a room in the basement to feed Luke and put him to bed. So that night Dan and I didn’t even sleep in the same bed, same room or even on the same floor. It doesn’t get any better than that. Happy Anniversary.
Thankfully, my gracious in-laws took the kids one night when we were in Hannah’s land and we snuck away enjoying ghost town architecture and yummy saloon food.
As we opened the car door in Aunt Ruth’s driveway we, all five us, were wide awake. The clock was near midnight and in a no time, Mackenzie (my golden niece) was climbing a pole in the basement and Calli was singing show tunes at the top of her lungs. Energy, anyone?
But obedient Mackie followed her mother to bed (I told you she was golden) and Dan took Calli in a room upstairs to calm her down. I stayed in a room in the basement to feed Luke and put him to bed. So that night Dan and I didn’t even sleep in the same bed, same room or even on the same floor. It doesn’t get any better than that. Happy Anniversary.
Thankfully, my gracious in-laws took the kids one night when we were in Hannah’s land and we snuck away enjoying ghost town architecture and yummy saloon food.
I guess it doesn’t get any better than that. 
8 comments:
You made my day and made me laugh even through tiredness! That trip was one for the memory book!! Miss you! The kids are growing up so fast.
Happy Anniversary!!!
You are an amazing mother! I probably would have just let mine scream.
Wow, Happy Anniversary!! Unfotuantely, I can completely relate...you are an amazing woman. Way to stay patient!
I remember I was HUGE pregnant for our 4th anniversary, and we both forgot about our anniversary. Right when I was walking out the door for work I could hear my sister leave a 'Happy Anniversary' message on our machine. We both gasped, ran to each other and........... gave each other an anniversary HIGH FIVE! <-- now THAT is pathetic!
You are an awesome Mom! Period.
That niece of yours must have some pretty dang good parents!
What a car ride -- glad you made it through! It's crazy what you do (me included here) to try & keep your kids happy/quiet on a car ride. Happy anniversary to you two! If nothing else, the anniversary story makes for one heck of a blog post! You guys look great in your self-portrait, by the way!
& Jaye -- that story is too funny!
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