Riding in Cars with (My) Boy

I am sure that I am not the first one to ever say this, but the person who said getting there is half the fun was definitely not traveling with a baby. I used to love driving because it was relaxing to turn on the radio and just cruise down the road. I grew up in a state with almost no public transportation, with the exception of school buses, so driving is in my blood.

However, since having a baby, driving is a craps shoot on whether the little guy will fall asleep or start howling. This takes much of the fun out of driving. In August, I was brave (or naive) enough to attempt to do the drive from Chicago to Des Moines with AJ by myself. The trip normally takes six hours and one stop. When AJ was crying before we ever hit the city limits, I thought about turning around and try again the next day. Twelve hours and seven stops later, I definitely wish I had. He would scream with such intensity that I thought he would vomit or burst an ear drum (his or mine), so I would stop to calm him down. As soon as I got him out of the car seat, he would smile and coo as if he was trying to charm me from putting him back in the seat. The instant I tried to buckle him back in, he would arch his back and start the screaming. I figured that he would eventually cry himself to sleep. After making five stops and only about 100 miles of progress, I realized that I could either move to Rock Falls, Illinois until AJ turned six and no longer needed a booster seat, or I could just suck it up and drive through the crying. He finally fell asleep eleven hours into the trip. He intensity and longevity in his crying in the car has led to my reluctance to try crying it out at night for his sleep problems.

Last week a friend from Iowa called to see if I wanted to meet her at the outlet mall on the outskirts of the Chicagoland area. After spending two hours stuck in traffic on the way home with the sun in AJ's eyes the entire time, major road construction and an accident, I tried to make myself feel better by thinking of how the situation could be worse. Like having twins in the car.