Or: Just Can’t Wait to Get on the Road Again
Photos by jkh_22: T.; J.; Le chemin.
The fourth (and perhaps fifth and sixth, if you’re into word counts) Guest Blogger post is from Jenni Holder (jkh_22), who loves (really) the regular road trips through France she takes with Tallulah (3 1/2), Jasper (13 months), and the baby daddy, fgcwjh (MD). I hope you enjoy her travelogue from this weekend—I couldn’t put it down. —along
It’s Thursday. We’re in the car on our way to Strasbourg, and I have 48 hours to finish one of my “blogger-wanna-be” posts. The kids are sleeping in their car seats, my batteries are running low—and so are the laptop’s. Ha ha. I know sometimes I can be long-winded, but ever since along asked me last week to write on command, I’ve had a sudden case of blogger-block. I don’t wanna-be anything except asleep right now. It’s been a long week in quarantine avec Tallulah à la Chicken Pox, and I’m already dreading Jasper’s strike (protest would be my normal word of choice, except I live in France now) against sleeping in the portable Pack ’n’ Play. I can’t just let him cry it out, either, because it would wake my sister-in-law’s entire family, with whom we’ll be staying for three nights.
I surprise myself when I actually ask fgcwjh, who’s driving, what he thinks I should blog about. He surprises me even more when he suggests “road trips.” Surprising since at this moment I can’t imagine that subject would be, shall we say, in his interest. Why? Because we’ve been bickering in the car since we left Lyon… that’s nearly three solid hours, and we have at least two to go. What’s more, we do this EVERY time we go on a road trip. Is he really prepared for me to air that dirty laundry out the car windows? As tempting as this idea seems, I benevolently resolve to search elsewhere for inspiration.
T.; J.
I look back at Tallulah, whose neck is bent at such an angle that her chin is touching her belly button.
More sleeping babies s’il vous plait
I see the seat label sewn onto the back of the chair where her head would normally rest; it says Maxi Cosi. I think the first word must refer to the number of times one will hear one’s child utter the second word while sitting in the thing. As in, “Mama, this seat is not cozy. This seat is not cozy. This seat is not cozy. Mama? Mama? Mama?” I think we heard that the maximum number of times one could without actually following through on the threat to leave her at the next rest stop. I mean, what are the chances she’ll run into another group of monks stocking up on junk food with space for her in the back of their Renault Twingo, like the ones we saw when we stopped for gas an hour ago? Barring that scenario, she’s better off sitting quietly upright, as if there were a baguette up her butt, in fact, while her parents argue over the quality of the chicken sandwiches Mama thoughtfully picked up for their dinner on the road. What seems to bug Papa even more than the fact that Mama made him wait two whole minutes more while, as an afterthought, she packed her running shoes, is that Mama forgot that Papa doesn’t like chicken sandwiches (even though he likes chicken, and good grief, how much saucisson can one man eat anyway?)… and besides that, he wanted two of them!!
To take her mind off that baguette, I begin telling Tallulah a made-up empowered-princess tale. A story in which a princess does not buy sandwiches, pick up housewarming gifts, or pack all the suitcases all by herself. Then again, she also doesn’t have to run upstairs one last time as the carriage is about to leave the castle because she’s forgotten her new sparkly empire waist cut blouse for a fancy dinner that fgcwjh, er, the prince is going to treat her to on Saturday night. Nor does she have to drive. On the other hand, it turns out she does have to make up princess stories while simultaneously trying to come up with something to blog about.
J.; T. by fgcwjh
I prop Tallulah’s head up without fear of waking her, and wedge Nina (her sleeping tiger dou-dou) under her chin. I will do this another dozen times before we arrive, and she won’t so much as change her breathing pattern. After the fourth time or so, I dig around for my camera and start taking pictures, shooting blind in the dark until fgcjwh loudly clears his throat and spits out, “couldyoustopthatnowplease?” A simple “sweetheart, darling who fetched dinner in the pouring rain and managed to feed the baby an hour ahead of his schedule at home to avoid having spoonfuls of puree slung at the back of my head as I drive, did you get the shot you wanted yet? Because that flash is a bit distracting at this very moment,” would’ve done the trick. Even in French. I’m just sayin’.
T.; J. Nice waffle.
I take a moment to look at Jasper, who is passed out in his mini Barcalounger of a car seat. Then I wonder why I haven’t documented him sleeping with the same dedication with which I’ve shot Tallulah over the past 3 1/2 years. I don’t believe it’s all second-child syndrome. He’s actually a really light sleeper, whereas Tallulah… she’s never needed much, but when she sleeps, it’s for reals. A click? A flash? A lighting crew on a cigarette break in her bedroom? She could sleep on a bag of frozen peas, no mattress in sight, this princess. She won’t budge. All the same, fgcwjh accuses me of stealing her sleep when I do it—like Crazy Horse fearful of losing his soul, I suppose. Me? Stealing her sleep? Even if he’s right, and I set up 24-hour video surveillance on her, I couldn’t come close to evening the score!
Four-T-winks.
Regardless of various religious beliefs, lots of parents do this. (Pictures, not surveillance. As far as I know, anyway.) In the beginning, you have no choice if you want photographs of your babies at less than a few months old. They do little else but sleep. As they get older… well, it’s cliché to say, but they do—they look like angels. It’s just that in contrast to their waking hours, they’re so peaceful… so not squirming, spilling, squealing, stomping, spitting up, sassing back… or bickering. There are other elements that interest me, of course: the positions of their bodies, the natural composition and choice of dou-dous, the observation of how much they’ve grown using the bed as a unit of measure, and the play of light, if there’s enough light to see them…. In our case (for better or worse), we didn’t put black-out shades in Tallulah’s room until last spring. Since then, nearly all my night shots are taken with a flash; they aren’t my favorites, but still, I can’t not shoot when I see it all come together in some mysterious way. For naps, my windows of opportunity are now blacked out, too: four days a week, Tallulah sleeps at school. Or rather, “sleeps”; her teacher says she usually fidgets on her cot, eyes wide open, until the final 15 minutes of rest period. Then they have to use smelling salts to get her up.
T.
In addition to not needing a lot of sleep, she apparently doesn’t need a particular baby blanket, nor has she been faithful to one dou-dou since birth. I mean, Nina is having a good run, as did Doggie and Lamby… and that ugly McDonald’s Happy Meal toy (from 1985?) that my mother-in-
law gave her last year. Whatever animal he was supposed to be, he made farting sounds when she squeezed him. I don’t know if or how that will play into her choice of future sleeping partners, but the moment she gave that thing up, I was none too grateful for her apparent commitment issues.
Just in case she and Jasper silently (or subconsciously) do rely on them, however, on every road trip (not to mention transatlantic trips) I currently lug: two fleece blankets; several dou-dous (for the moment, Nina, a baby doll, a sock monkey, a music box in the form of that Petit Prince lamb, and a Teddy bear that has resembled road kill since day one); pillows; sheets washed in our detergent; a sheepskin rug that could use washing; and two quilts made by their Great Granny Toots. Do they notice? Fgcwjh does. He says the extra luggage interferes with his rear-view mirror sight line. (But honestly, if that man knew how to pack a trunk correctly, we’d have plenty of room for all the Alsacienne goods I plan on taking back home with us.) What would be the one thing they miss if they woke in the middle of the night in an unfamiliar place, and it wasn’t there?
J.
Right now, I’d place my bet on Tallulah’s little white satin pillow. I recently noticed that it was not only stained silly with sleep drool, but that some of the stuffing was escaping from a hole in the seam. I brought out a small Hello Kitty bag where I keep some mending supplies. At this, Tallulah turned away from her Snow White DVD to ask what I was doing. I started to explain as she looked inside the bag…
J: Watch your fingers, princess, there are needles in there.
T: Yes, Mama, I know. Is that pink?!!!
J: Yes.
T: Pink what?
J: Pink thread.
T: Why aren’t you using it?
J: The pillow is white, so I’m using white thread to mend the hole.
T: Why?
J: So you won’t see the thread when I’m done.
T: Why?
J: Because, um, because… because… good question, Tallulah.
T: Can you use the pink thread?
J: How about if we use it to sew a pink T on your pillow?
T: YEAH!!! What other colors do you have?
J: Take a look…
(as if all ten fingers weren’t already jammed into the bag.)
T: Is that black? That’s black thread? I like black. Black is beautiful, yeah Mama?
J: As a matter of fact, Tallulah, yes, it is!
T: Hey, is that red? Can you do a red M for my friend Marco?
J: Sure.
T: OH! Here’s brown! Can you do a brown J for Jasper?
J: Yes. Anybody else?
T: Yes. Can you use the black to maaaaaake….
J: Uh-huh?
T: For Leon? Ummmm… an L?
J: That’s right! Good job. No problem.
T: You know, Mama, we need more colors for my cousins…
That night when I put Tallulah to bed, I asked if she wanted to go buy more colored thread before we left for Strasbourg. We discussed which letters we’d add to the pillow. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzoé starts with Z, and LLLLLLLLLLLLéonie? another L. Then she looked up at me with that twinkle in her eye that conceals whether she already knows the answer to her question, or if she’s just tickled with herself for thinking to ask in the first place…
T: Hey, can you sew another M, too?
J: Of course. Let me guess. For Maylis?
T: Noooooooooo! For Mmmmmmmmama!
J: You know what, Tallulah? You’re beautiful.
(then thinking to myself, And not just when you sleep.)
T.
* * * * * * * * * *
Sunday evening. Home again. I believe it was our best visit there yet, and I ask for everyone’s favorite parts. Fgcwjh enjoyed our dinner at Table 77, and speaking of parts, he had delicious riz de veau (sweetbreads). Aside from the curry lamb dish Virginie made, mine was the chance to watch a movie start to finish Sunday, after Zoé made the adults a second pot of coffee. Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. I thought Tallulah would be as transfixed as I was. But no, she was off playing alone. No cousins, two hours, one word: Barbie. She’d discovered the girls’ cache, and had charmed Uncle Smith into buying her one dressed as Cinderella, too. Better than bon-bons and Johnny Depp, evidently. And Jasper’s? It was a toss-up between sleeping half the night in our bed, the spaetzle, and a toy laptop from Tata Virginie. He was très excité, and funnily enough, he knew exactly what to do with that thing. Maybe I’ll ask him for blogging ideas next time. Oh yeah, that reminds me… I never did go running.
And sleep? Jasper’s came as advertised. Tallulah, she lovvvvves sharing a room with Léonie, but Friday at 3:00 AM, she crawled into our bed, damp and cold. Her pee-soaked pyjamas were at my feet when I got up in the morning. Everyone has their limits, I guess. Saturday afternoon, she took a two-hour nap on the floor, without any dou-dous. Not even the white satin pillow, which she threw across the room when I tried to sing her a song. That night, all three girls were allowed to sleep together in the same room. At 10:30, Zoé finally told the babysitter she was going back to her own bed: Tallulah was keeping her awake, making faces in the mirror and jabbering away. I didn’t get a single shot of her asleep all weekend.
On the drive home, Jasper took a long nap, discovered the pleasure of looking out the window, and was later saved from a meltdown, laughing hysterically when the rest of us chanted, “…this little piggy had saucisson, this little piggy had none, and this little piggy cried oui oui oui oui all the way home!” (Isn’t that how it goes?) Tallulah slept for five minutes, and had us stop twice in the first hour to go to the bathroom.
S., T., & J.
As for fgcwjh, well, he did drive safely there and back, a total of 11 hours, half of that in heavy rain without a decent meal in his belly. What’s more, he bought Haribo licorice at the gas station, which we also always do on road trips. Always. He saves the red round sour ones for me. We talked about the weekend, listened to Cat Power, and realized we never fight on the return trips. In fact, we even talked about plans to drive down to Texas to see Great Granny Toots while we’re in the States this summer. If we have the courage, we’re going to leave the kids with GranJan and Grampa. That is, if they do. Either way, maybe fgcwjh should make the sandwiches while I pack the car? It’s just a thought; nothing to lose any sleep over.
The road. Can’t wait. Really.
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27 Responses to “Sweet Dreams…”
ribena @ 2007-03-26 10:19:17 PM says:
“can you sew another M?” kills me.
cryingboy @ 2007-03-27 12:41:26 AM says:
my word… I mean your words - I love every one of ‘em.
jkh_22 @ 2007-03-27 03:02:13 AM says:
yeah, novella *is* more like it! well, that ought to keep you from asking again for a while!! thanks, andrew, for asking me to contribute…and of course, for your contribution to the layout, photo selections, and editing. mostly, though, thanks for the encouragement to write in the first place. now can i go take a nap?
ana @ 2007-03-27 03:46:02 AM says:
great! couldn’t be better… and we’ll always ask for posts! *
deborah @ 2007-03-27 05:30:03 AM says:
im printing this for some reading on the bus… not because of its length, but it makes a perfect commuting story and i want to read it again… and again :)
id read your blog if you had one!
Lisa @ 2007-03-27 06:00:12 AM says:
nothing to write about, hm? a likely story…
Laura @ 2007-03-27 07:11:21 AM says:
So that’s why you couldn’t talk in the car. Well worth it… a fine trade, good reading in lieu of a good conversation.
But now I don’t want a nap, I want 2 saucission sandwiches.
beebs @ 2007-03-27 08:41:56 AM says:
sweet dreams are made of this
palmea @ 2007-03-27 01:58:12 PM says:
honestly, link this piece to your new blog you are going to start NOW.
i will be a subscriber.
emeli @ 2007-03-28 04:25:43 PM says:
ohhh esas fotos son re tiernas….. me enamore de esas criaturas dormilonas.. jaja.–
dangerpaws @ 2007-03-28 07:39:13 PM says:
I love seeing the babies in all their flexi sleeping poses. and as a matter of fact, yes, it is!
golightly @ 2007-03-28 09:36:57 PM says:
love the ending. so rich with color and description, i feel i am there…
old_ness @ 2007-03-29 11:12:56 AM says:
such a lovely read!
*L (MD) @ 2007-03-30 02:00:02 PM says:
you’re a born writer oh yes you are :)
suboeki @ 2007-04-01 12:09:21 PM says:
oh, how wonderful! both the story and the pictures
Fanny @ 2007-04-04 03:59:50 PM says:
Hola!.. soy de Chile y nose como llegué hasta aqui. Pero me encantaron las fotos de los niños durmiendo, están muy lindas =)
bueno, no entiendo mucho inglés.
saludos !! =)
bye bye ! =)
CarO @ 2007-04-04 09:41:20 PM says:
hi everybody
i loved this photos!
they´re so cute!
those babys are beautiful
continue putting pictures like that ones
it´s a beautiful website
if you want enter to my fotolog
and leave a comment
kisses
bye
tepi @ 2007-04-04 10:59:54 PM says:
que lindo!
jose @ 2007-04-04 11:08:37 PM says:
te mandoo mi e-mail jose_alvarez08@hotmail.com
okk
chauuu
un beso…….::PP
aguus. @ 2007-04-05 12:57:39 AM says:
those babes sleeping are so beautiful.
soy Agustina de Argentina.
saludoss.
yoyo @ 2007-04-05 09:05:47 AM says:
there are bebys!!
AYLIN @ 2007-04-05 09:25:35 AM says:
OLI DE K SE TRATA ESO PLLLIS D IGAN PONGAN LAS LETRAS EN ESPAÑOL
jexi @ 2007-04-05 09:41:10 AM says:
dos osits en la arena es facil de borrar peo una amiga como tu es dificil de olvidar
no kambs nunk wapa tkmsxm
ANGELY @ 2007-04-05 12:04:01 PM says:
ERES LA MEJOR AMIGA
luchiss @ 2007-04-07 09:07:58 PM says:
qe lindoss dormiloness
mui lindass fotoss
sigan asi
besoss
..::luchiss::..
=)
Bere @ 2007-04-08 12:37:29 AM says:
presioso°
Priscilla @ 2007-04-09 04:38:05 PM says:
how cute is that??
I fell inlove with your story and the babies
:)
you did an excellent job, you told everything so well I felt I was there n_n
take care and whish you’ll have *Sweet Dreams* tonight