30 November 2008 1:59 pm
Motion Baby
Once a motion baby, always a motion baby.
Today, I had the opportunity to once again hold Andrea, and sway, and bounce as I did when she was an infant. Today, Andrea was overtired and was attempting to refuse taking a nap. I started holding her so that she couldn't run away or head downstairs. In spite of her squirming, I could tell that she was tired. Eventually, she gave in to the fatigue and I could feel her body relax. So I stood, and swayed and bounced a bit more as she got more and more tired. Finally, she asked to lie down on the futon (in her room) and she was asleep in seconds.
As an infant, we had many opportunities to contend with our motion baby. We would often walk and bounce with her in our arms until she fell asleep. When we were both fatigued, the bouncy seat sometimes came to the rescue. At daycare, I have many memories of Ms Karen happily dancing with Andrea in her arms. Andrea also motivated them to buy batteries for the vibrating bouncy seat that hadn't had working batteries in quite some time! The sling was our friend as she got older, as she would ride contently until she dozed off. Sometimes, we relied on the stroller and a walk around the block in nice weather.
I'm not sure if I'll ever forget our trip back from one of Andrea's early doctor appointments. She was screaming as loud as her little lungs could in the back seat of the car. As instantly as a light being switched, her screams turned to snores as we crossed the bumps of the three railroad tracks. It went something like this: Waaaah! Waaaaah! Waaaaaah!, Bumpity, Bumpity, Bumpity, ... {silence}.
And then, there was our disappointment when they re-paved a local road that we travel frequently. We would drive trying to hit the small bumps in the road to provide some soothing and comfort to our backseat passenger. Those bumps and potholes were our allies! Somehow we managed, but I suspect we dealt with a lot more crying that we would have had the potholes remained.
So, I guess I am thankful for the bumps in the road... both figuratively and literally.
