Momma's Greatest Hits

Kiernan's Mom, Wendy, is out of town this week on business. She left before sunrise this morning for a consulting gig in West Virginia.

The normal Tuesday routine dictates that Kiernan and I go to school--his infant/toddler program--in the morning. Before that we usually go to breakfast together. After that he naps and then we have our usual day. The normal routine on a day when Wendy leaves on a business trip involves much more clinginess on Kiernan's part. Maybe on my part too. You'll have to wait until he can type to find out about that. At any rate, today was no exception. Even though she took a shuttle bus to the airport, and therefore he should not have been aware that she was out of town...somehow he knew. He always knows. He's like Cali--our cat--on the day I have to take her to the vet for her vaccinations. It's like he's privy to some toddler (or, in Cali's case, feline) newsletter that prints parental itineraries.

Anyway, he was much more high maintenance today. He was still great, just more demanding.

After our reading time, we give Kiernan his bottle and sing him to near-sleep. As he gets drowsy we put him in his crib, sing to him some more, and he falls asleep (I'm knocking on the wood panelling of my office as I type this). Tonight I read Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus, which merits its own post, so I won't comment on it here. We finished the book, the timer for the bottle warmer beeped as if on cue, and Kiernan, in his adorable Pavlovian way, gave me the hand sign for milk. We said "night-night" to every light in the house and I gave him his bottle.

Halfway through his bottle he gave me the "more" sign. We have come to recognize this instance of the "more" sign as meaning he wants us to sing to him. So I started singing my standard bed time songs: "Karma Chameleon" by Culture Club, and "When September Ends" by Green Day. Often these work out just fine. You'd be surprised what works. The music only, hummed version of "C is for Cookie" by Cookie Monster is great for naps, for instance. You'd think it would make him think of cookies, and then think about how stupid napping is when there are so many cookies to be eaten, but that's not the case.

Tonight my usual repertoire was no good. He was having none of it. He made this known by doing his version of the request.

As I sang, he took his bottle out of his mouth and started to do the "Go-Go-Go" chant. I knew he didn't want to hear the "Go-Go-Go" song. But I also knew that most of his mother's good night songs had the word "Go" in them. So I switched to one of her songs. He immediately calmed down and shut his eyes.

After a couple passes through that song, he opened his eyes and said, very clearly, "Baby". I know Wendy sometimes sings "Rockabye Baby" to him, so I switched to that, even though I find that song disturbing. Whenever I sing that song I find myself thinking of David Lynch and wondering whether he sings the song to his kids. Kiernan again closed his eyes and relaxed.

A few minutes later he opened his eyes again and did the "Go-Go-Go" hand motions, albeit much more sleepily. So I went to one I've heard Wendy use in dire circumstances, "Goodnight Sweetheart", which I'm embarrassed to say I only remember some dude named Bowser singing on the Sha Na Na tv show. It also has the word "Go" in it, which is dangerous since that word has been known to set Kiernan off on a "Go-Go-Go" chant tangent. This time, however, it worked like a charm.

Momma is out of town, but only her songs will do.