Driving

Yesterday afternoon at 5:30 I put Simon in my car and headed out to my parents' house. I carefully chose that time to coincide with Simon's afternoon nap, so he would sleep most of the way and spare me the crying and screaming. It didn't work so well, though. He screamed for 20 minutes before falling asleep. Bumper-to-bumper traffic and Simon screaming most of the way. He really lost it. After awhile I could tell he was trying to stop crying but couldn't. He was just hysterical. I'm sure my blood pressure spiked to a dangerous level. I was 10 minutes away from my parents' house when Simon finally conked out, leaving me with lots of time to kill driving around while he slept. On the bright side: if it hadn't been nap time, Simon would have screamed for the entire 30-minute drive. I guess I saved myself 10 minutes of screaming. Pretty sweet, eh?

I came back home today during his first nap (at noon), and I'll be going back to the parents' at around 5:30 again. Yes, I am subjecting myself to awful traffic and uncontrollable screaming. Why? Because it's preferable to spending the evening at my house. I still have stuff to do at home, so I'm planning on coming back again tomorrow morning. Yes, I found a new time to travel with Simon! Normally, he wakes up some time around 6 or 7 a.m. and then sleeps with me on the couch in his room for another hour or so. There is nowhere for us to snuggle and sleep together at my parents' house, so lately he's been denied his last hour or two of slumber. That hour or two is the key to my diabolical plan. I'll strap him in the car at 7 tomorrow morning and let him sleep as I drive back home. Isn't that just gorgeous?

Tomorrow we have a new painter coming to assess the damage and give us an estimate for finishing the job. We're stopping the gravy train for the current workers. They're out. Let's hope this new guy isn't a total bastard.