Wednesday, June 1

Weekend with Doodles

Adam had a black tie wedding to attend in Long Island this past Memorial Day weekend. Originally I was going to go with him, but then we started to think about it. First of all, I'd have to buy a black tie maternity dress. Um, let's see. I won't spend $20 to buy myself a long sleeved maternity shirt even though we haven't had a day over 60 degrees yet. You really think I'm going to spend $150+ on a black tie maternity dress? Then there was the issue of the babysitter. The Tweedle Twirp was willing to come out to sit with Doodles, but was she going to share our hotel room (the LIRR doesn't run that late) or would we have to get her her own room. And what about the rehearsal dinner? Was I just going to sit in the room with Doodles while Adam went to that. The more we thought about it, the less sense it made for me to go.

Meanwhile, my friend J. had asked me and Doodles to meet her and her daughter in the Hamptons, at her dad's place. I had originally said no, because the idea of me and Doodles alone for a three hour car ride and a one and half hour ferry ride was less than appealing. However, as long as Adam was going to Long Island anyway, Doodles and I might as well hitch a ride to the Hamptons.

Doodles was on remarkably good behavior. He fussed for maybe 5 minutes of the car ride, which was about 63 minutes less than what I fussed for. Mostly he played with his toys, ate his snacks, and hummed to himself as he looked out the window. He adored the ferry ride (New London to Orient Point), as there was an arcade on the boat, Adam let him sit at one of the car games and turn the wheel. Of course for the rest of the ride, we were subjected to demands of "Car! Car! Car!"

We made it to J.'s place without any major incidents (except that one very public meltdown on the ferry when Doodles wanted to walk around outside and we wouldn't let him go without his jacket on, which he had no intention of wearing), and Adam left us to head off for boozier grounds.

The day was a rousing success. I got to catch up with J., who I hadn't seen in over a year. Doodles got to taunt J.'s daughter, who at 14 months, was fascinated by the much older, obviously more sophisticated, 21-month-old Doodles. My favorite moment was when it was time to say night night and J.'s daughter chased Doodles around the house trying to give him a kiss good night while Doodles just ran for cover. Someday he'll be girl crazy, and I'll remind him how many pretty girls he refused as a child (and if he ends up boy crazy, well, this will all make sense).

The trip kind of fell apart for me when it was time to put Doodles to bed. I brought a travel trundle for him (borrowed from a friend) that I thought would work. At day care, Doodles sleeps on a mat, so this would be nothing new for him. But I guess a nap at school is different than a mat at a strange place. We went through his bedtime routine and at the appropriate time, he pointed at the mat and went to lay down. I sang his songs and his eyes got heavy. And then I started on my bedtime good nights--"Nighty night time!"--and he freaked out. Stood up and started screaming, which wouldn't have been terrible if J.'s daughter wasn't already asleep in the room next door. He was miserable. I tried taking him downstairs (where J. and her dad were holding up dinner for me) and putting him in the Pack N' Play. No going. I tried bringing him back up and laying down with him. Uh uh. What finally worked is I laid down with him, called Adam on his cell phone, pulled him out of his rehearsal dinner to go into the hall of the hotel to sing Doodles his bedtime songs (at home, Adam always puts Doodles to bed). That did it. It calmed Doodles down enough to cuddle into me, and I just laid on the floor until he fell fast asleep. After over an hour, I finally made my way back downstairs for adult company.

But that wasn't the hardest part. The hardest part is when I came back into the room and found that Doodles had rolled off the travel trundle and was on the floor, halfway under the bed. Okay, I can sort of scoot him back. Not a problem. But when he got fussy around midnight, I quickly grabbed him and pulled him into bed, as I didn't want him waking up the rest of the house. We were staying in a beautiful guest room with, what to me looked like, an antique bed that was quite high off the ground. What that meant was that every time Doodles scooted over to curl up with Adam--who of course wasn't there--I woke him up to scoot him back over to me. Which means he didn't get a lot of sleep. And I got almost no sleep.

The next day, J., her daughter, Doodles, and I spent a lovely morning playing on the beach. But I was on a fast downhill trajectory in my sleep deprivation, the night before being simply the final straw in a week of no sleep (from work, from Doodles, from the Occupant, from no reason at all), so I bailed on my friend and her beautiful summer home, and made Adam trek all the way back out to the Hamptons to pick us up and bring us to his hotel in Long Island.

In the long run, it turned out to be just fine. Doodles and I got to spend some time with nearby cousins. Doodles went to sleep just fine with me in the room. And I got to take a nice long shower, order room service, and eat dinner in bed while watching trash TV until I was too tired to keep my eyes open. These days, that's what passes for excitement in my world.

The next morning, to break up our trip, we decided to stop off in NYC to have breakfast with the Tweedle Twirp. The entire hour to get to her apartment, Doodles practiced saying, "Hi, Tweedles." He got it down pretty well and we made our way to the East Village, found a parking spot right outside her apartment, and when she came out... he refused to speak with her.

"Doodles, can you say, 'Hi, Tweedles'"?

"No!"

"Are you sure? Do you want to try?"

"No!"

Which I could have lived with if it weren't for the fact that not two seconds later, Doodles started accosting strangers on the street, bombarding them with "Hi! Hi! Hi!" and refusing to stop until they acknowledged him back. All the while, with the Tweedle Twirp pushing his stroller, keeping him out of traffic, holding his snacks. Did she get a "Hi" when she took him to Central Park Zoo? Well, the sea lions got a "Hi." The polar bears got a "Hi, hi, hi!" The monkeys got an "Eeee oooo!" And the fish got lots of "Hellloooooo fish!" And Tweedles? Tweedles got squat.

It's a fickle world when you're dealing with an almost-two year old. A lesson we seem to be getting a crash course in. But regardless, the Tweedle Twirp took it all in good spirit and after the zoo, we scooted our little monkey home. Despite it being Memorial Day, traffic was almost completely clear, and we made it home in under four hours.

Traveling with Doodles is always an adventure. And at the end, I swear I'll not do it again for many more years to come. Yet within days of my return, I find myself thinking, "Hmmm, where can we go next?" I guess it's a fickle world when you're dealing with an almost-37 year old as well.

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