TMI Tuesday: Bracing For My Annual Departure

Every year I go on an annual business trip which was never a real issue in the past. Last year it took some more coordinating as my son was just over a month old when he helped to drop me off at the airport. It was also helpful at the time to still have the doula helping us out until I returned. Now things are completely different as daddy’s little boy doesn’t want daddy to leave this weekend.

This time around my wife and I have decided to not tell out son about my quickly approaching trip. We learned our lesson from my unusual travel last month that it probably isn’t the best thing to ‘prepare’ him throughout the week prior. However, he still seems to know that something is going on and has wanted to be with daddy a little more than usual. Of course, for me that isn’t a completely bad thing.

And this is just the stuff that we have to keep to ourselves before I leave. Now that our son is a little older I have to schedule a few other stops during each of my trips since I want him to have a little something from each of the places that daddy goes for work. Part of what I try to pick up is a magnet for his growing collection which we started last year when we went to Hershey and continued during our jaunt through Virginia.

The second item that I try to find for him (and I went out of the way by finding the time last trip) is a small stuffed animal that he can snuggle when I am either away on a trip or simply out late that night. The third and final item that I am now on the lookout for, since it was so successful last trip, is some kind of inexpensive hat and shirt combination. It is also nice to remember those travels (and at the same time not pleasant) when he wears them to school or around the house.

However, what might be the most important part of this whole operation is whether Bear-Frog is ready for duty. So far he has done the trick at night in our son’s crib and he better pull through for us on this one as well because, in the end, we want this to go by as quickly as possible for all of us. I just hope that the flight sniffles that have been coming and going over the last few months are nowhere to be found next week… that would make for a long trip.

TMI Tuesday: Screams In The Night

One of the scariest sounds that I have ever heard is when we have been startled from a deep sleep by the screams from our son echoing across the room through the monitor. While my wife’s hearing is more in tune with the displeasures of our son, when I am able to remain unconscious to the troubles around us, there are times when it doesn’t matter how sound a slumber, the scream that our son makes could wake anyone up… even me!

Just over a week ago this seemed to be the pattern for a few nights as our son spiked a fever well into triple digits. It was a time of little sleep, especially for my wife, as all we could do for a couple of nights was monitor, give him medicine, hold him, and dunk him in the tub if he got too hot. Unfortunately, I am little help during these times as our son insists on having his mommy but will occasionally want his daddy within his sight line. This episode, this sequence of nights, was far beyond those that we have dealt with previously.

Even without a temperature and feeling perfectly fine, there are moments when our son will wake up and make some noise before falling back to sleep. What can I say, he is loud when he shifts just like his daddy. There are also moments when he will fuss or even whimper for a minute or two before he either screams because of some uncomfortable padding under his bottom or he will unleash a different kind of sound that fills the night, lay down, and sleep better than he did before he woke up.

There was also a period of adjustment when we moved into the house when we couldn’t quite get the thermostat right… our son has become rather particular with regard to ideal sleeping temperature in his room. Over the first couple of weeks we were able to figure it out. Who am I kidding, my wife is the one that fine-tuned the temperature. And now, if there are nights that are a little warmer or cooler, our son adjusts his position in the crib sleeping either in a slightly cooler spot near the wall or a little warmer away from it.

And while we have done everything that we can to make him as comfortable as possible, sometimes there are nights when he doesn’t feel well. Sometimes there are evenings when he is startled by a nightmare (also a scream that is hard to forget). Sometimes he simply loses track of his stuffed animal and/or binkie. And other times there are nights when he gets a little lonely being on the second floor by himself or when we didn’t spend enough time playing with him during the day and needs a little more snuggle time with mommy and/or daddy. But these nights are nothing in comparison to that heart wrenching siren.