Since Clementine is no fan of the car, we haven't strayed too far from the Metro Detroit area on a regular basis. I imagined my maternity leave would be a world of adventures and exploration, my baby sleeping soundly in the back seat while I discovered new towns and fun places to visit. Little did I expect that even a trip to Target would be impossible without a constant distracting wail from the backseat. My mom tells people that I'm getting what I deserve: I was a hellion of a child in her book, and so it serves me right that my wanderlust would be squashed by a willful infant who just wants to stay put. Whatever the reason, my baby is a homebody. Nevertheless, we packed her up the day after Thanksgiving and took her to Cleveland for the Bazaar Bizarre and a show at the Beachland Ballroom (to be fair, these were things her parents wanted to do and weren't entirely kid-friendly).
It turns out the hardest part of the road trip was really the preparation. We're not innocents who think a baby can travel light like we do: a sweater and a toothbrush and we're good to go. But nor were we prepared for the amount of deciding and hemming and hawing we would have to do to get her stuff together. Do we bring the bouncing, vibrabrating, bubbling seat? How many diapers does she need? How many outfits do we pack? Should we pack a medicine kit? Should Mr. Night come or just her stuffed carrot? By the time we packed her up, we were tired, totally off-schedule and just a little harried. We decided to bring as little as possible (leaving her white noise CD behind seemed brave since she has never fallen asleep without it), but it still filled up more than half of the back of my friend Laura's car.
Clementine slept more than I thought she would, cried just a bit to let us know she was serious but was generally a lovely baby. She went with the flow, hung out for hours in the gallery where the Bazaar Bizarre was held, despite the fact that her mom sold very little (not even one "George Bush hates you" onesie, which was surprising). She even survived the epic searched for restaurants that took us to various odd choices, including a very chic Greek place that was really not a great place for babies. In turn, I learned that traveling with a baby can be easy if you're relaxed about it and how to change her diaper just about anywhere, including balanced across a toilet and on a stack of magazines. It was fun for all.
My friend Laura offered to sit with Clementine in the hotel Saturday night so Nate and I could see two Detroit bands at the Beachland Ballroom: Blanche (a perennial favorite) and The Dirtbombs. We had a tremendous time, although I was sad Clementine couldn't come and meet Blanche in person--she accompanied us to many of their concerts before she was born. Apparently Clementine was sad about that as well, as she had a bit of a meltdown at the hotel without us. Laura soldiered on without calling us, but we felt pretty bad the next day. I can't wait until the weather is warm and we can enjoy all our favorite bands outside with our little girl, leaving no one home to miss out.
Next weekend we are going to push our road trip luck and head for Chicago. Five hours in a car--who knows what can happen?!
1 comment:
Hey! I checked out the latest Clementine pictures and was so excited that you were featherbowling at Cadieux Cafe! My grandparents lived about half a block down Cadieux from there; that was how I knew we were almost at their house, the whole time I was growing up. So (weirdly) exciting.
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