An elderly couple stops the flow of traffic as they slowly meander through the crosswalk. The woman is wearing a fur coat and clutches her husband’s arm, the man walks with a cane and draws his wife near. Normally the sight of this would make my heart swell and I would pause to think of how fleeting life is, how all we can do is hold on tightly to our loves, and how I hope that one day Steve and I are that elderly couple gingerly treading the streets of town. However, when there is a screaming baby in the back seat of my car and all I want to do is get to my destination as quickly as possible so I can get her out of her loathsome carseat, seeing two old turtles crossing the street loses its charm and I am angered by the ten second delay.
Time stands still when a baby screams. Yesteday I was waiting at the drive thru for my poutine (score!) and it took an extra long time. As in, five minutes. Which is kind of long if you’re just waiting by yourself. But excruciatingly long when there is an angry baby in your car howling so hard she can barely catch her breath. I was tempted to just peel out of the parking lot and forget about the poutine. But I am just not that kind of person (meaning, the thought of hot fries with gravy and cheese were worth enduring the moments of Avelyn’s agony).
When she’s upset I try to do the whole ‘mind over matter’ thing and not let it get to me. Just take deep breaths and pretend like it’s not happening: picture yourself on a white sandy beach, the sound of the waves lapping against the shore, the sun beating down on your firm bikini body.
I am not very successful at that, though. The reality of my driving a Volvo on a cloudy day with a banshee in the backseat is just a little too real to escape.
9 Comments
A screaming baby in the car is THE WORST! You can’t do anything….the mind-over-matter/deep-breathing thing only works for so long.
Do you ever have it where you think they’ve stopped crying but they’re really just taking a BIG breath in for a BIG scream?
Oh man, I hate that. I hate when people are being slow and I have a screamer in the backseat. Someone should really invent a car designed for Mom’s where has an auto-pilot and you can sit by baby and baby doesn’t need to be strapped down for dear life and there is a fridge and all the comforts a Mom and Babe need, geeeeesh, maybe I should invent it already. I am rather pathetic when junior is screaming, I pull over, one time it took me like 4 hours to drive to Penticton, do two small chores and drive home. YIKES!!!!
We have special kids music in the car for just those moments. Worked wonders for both my boys, they just had to stop yelling to hear what pretty music was playing.
Ah yes… sometimes we just turn up the music.
Quick, Steve, come home! Amanda has taken up drivethru’s for poutine! – in the middle of the day come hoooommmmme!
Nothing worse than a screaming baby…
How come I’ve never heard her scream? She must just pull out her cuteness for everyone besides Mommy :)
There is NOTHING more stressful than hearing your baby scream in the car….and nothing more excruciating than ANY delay on the way home if your baby is screaming. I have no idea what poutine is, but I can relate to the baby screaming thing! Can you post a pic of poutine please? :)
Amanda, I can’t believe that such a cute little girl could actually scream like a banshee — it can’t be true. (that’s what people always said about Sarah, so I TOTALLY believe you) Doesn’t change her cute factor, though!
What a great post! I totally hear you on the elderly couple crossing the street thing. Somedays, it’s cute. Other days, my patience level is below zero and the cute factor suddenly becomes soooo annoying.
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