So I've gotten started on my 101 in 1001. I've actually crossed one item off the list: take Locke on his first carousel ride. We visited Matthew's parents in Detroit for a few days, and we went to the Henry Ford museum. The carousel there is really old, and has some pretty interesting looking animals for the kids to ride (my favorite were the frogs). Matthew had Locke in the Baby Bjorn, so he got up in one of those stationary sled things carousels always have for the really tiny kids, while I stayed off to take pictures. Well, the guy who was running the carousel saw me standing there and practically insisted that I ride too, and even got us to move to a different sled (this one rocked a bit instead of being entirely stationary, so that was kind of cool). Not exactly how I envisioned Locke's first carousel (I sort of pictured him being more like 2 years old, and me holding him on a horse that didn't look like it moved too awfully much), but hey, at least I accomplished something, right? :)
Detroit is a 6.5 hour drive from us under the best of circumstances, and it ended up taking us actually 8 when we figured in stopping for Locke time. Mostly this involved stopping at rest stops to nurse...and let me tell you, after that particular visit, I am OVER nursing in public places, especially parking lots. My in-laws have either forgotten what it was like to care for a 3 month old infant, or they just didn't particularly care. Both days of our visit, we went places that were over an hour from their home, which was particularly bad for my baby because those days were bookended by full days in the car. I realized, halfway through the second day, that I'd made a major mistake by not standing up for what was best for my baby and telling them we really would rather have stayed somewhere within easy reach of their house and our hotel. I have to brag a little, though, and say in spite of all that running around, Locke was a really well behaved baby. I mean, sure, he was a little fussy from time to time; but he is 3 months old, after all. It wasn't until dinner the second night that he had a true meltdown, and by that time I'd grown a bit of a mommy backbone. ;) Which is to say, Matthew and I didn't wait it out at the restaurant with my poor overstimulated baby...we went back to the hotel and gave him some much needed down time instead.
That's all I'll say about that particular visit, because who really wants to hear me complain about my inlaws? Yeah, that's what I thought. :)
Next challenge: getting Locke weaned from nursing to sleep. This is going to be a huge undertaking, and one I need to stop putting off. When he was tiny, nursing was the only reliable way I could get him to sleep at all, and I took comfort from the fact that every baby book I've ever read says you can't spoil a newborn. Well, you could totally have fooled me, because now I have a son who wails, flat-out, high-pitched, mommy-why-do-you-hate-me top-of-the-lungs screams, if I try to make him sleep without nursing down first. Tonight was the first night I tried it, and it took me about an hour and a half to get him to sleep. This is going to be a loooooong week, I'm thinking. Sigh...
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