Mobile Naps

On Friday, we had an electrician here to do the wiring in the basement. Now that there is another baby on the horizon, my husband has flown into "productive mode" and is scurrying quickly to get the basement finished so that the guest room can be renovated to a big boy room. For some reason, in my head, wiring didn't sound very intense and it didn't occur to me that there might be a lot of ruckus involved. Needless to say, there was plenty of banging and drilling before Ben and I left for our play date.

I was concerned about his nap but thought I could work around it by getting him home early and putting him down while the contractors were still on their own lunch break. So we raced home only to find that the contractors had already left for lunch. I had no idea how long they had been gone so I gave him a quick lunch and rushed him upstairs for bed.

Ten minutes after I had put him down, they were back. They were really nice and one of them even explained that they had knocked on the door rather than ringing the bell in case my son was asleep. I confirmed that he was asleep and had just been put down. He assured me that they were through with most of the noisy stuff and just had a few screws to put in. It appears that we have different ideas about what is "noisy". Five minutes after they disappeared down the basement stairs, the walls were vibrating with the "quietness" of their work.

Of course, the baby monitor started squeaking in response. Initially, it was just a whimper but within minutes it became a full blown cry. I ran upstairs in an attempt to rock and comfort him, hoping that he would be able to relax and go to sleep. No such luck. I was feeling frustrated by the racket and fantasizing about stomping down the stairs shouting "Keep it down" when I decided we both needed a break.

I put Ben's shoes on and said "Let's go for a ride!" We went to the Starbucks and brought the husband a coffee at work. I had hoped that riding in the car would provide an opportunity for sleep and it didn't seem like that was going to happen for my tot. But, about halfway home, I saw the head start to droop and the eyes close. I didn't want to take him home, so I made a detour and we went for a drive in the country while he slept. During his snooze, I drove through neighborhoods I had never been to before and found new short cuts to different areas. It was a peaceful drive on a beautiful day, listening to the radio and the tiny snores in the backseat. Car naps are never as long as crib naps and he was awake after about forty-five minutes, but it was a blessed forty-five minutes. Next time contractors show up at the door, rather than getting frustrated, I will be grabbing the car keys.