Last night, for the second time ever, I was forced to abscond into the night with Miles who, flagrantly refusing to sleep or cease his screaming, left me with little recourse but to drive him around until his ass fell asleep. Normally, we would’ve just let him eventually put himself back to sleep, trying our best to ignore his wailing. But with houseguests this weekend, this wasn’t really a viable option.
Miles, who was already expressing high degree of general angst, was even less thrilled to be strapped into his carseat. I tried putting on some Elmo music for him, but after that failed to quiet him down I turned it off quickly to limit my own discomfort.
For forty minutes we traveled around Charlotte, Miles’s crying never subsiding. After the fifth or sixth time I had offered him milk, Miles finally agreed that yes, he wanted milk. I had Jaclyn meet us outside with a sippy cup, and while the sight of mom caused Miles to once again start screaming, he quieted down within ten minutes and started drinking.
With the wailing finally subsiding and Miles filling his belly with milk, the last step in the process was lulling him back to a state of unconsciousness. I started playing music again, this time Andy Williams’s “Moon River,” a song sure to put a small child to sleep. After nearly an hour, we pulled back up to the house. Sadly, Miles was not completely asleep, and he began loudly pointing things out (“Dog!” “Door!” “Green!”) in a voice that was hoarse from the screaming as we entered. Miles almost acted as though the previous hour had never happened. Still, while we were forced to stay up with him a little longer, I’ll gladly take happy Miles over irrationally inconsolable Miles.
The Perils (& Pride) of Paternity 