Caterpillars, Cops and Rocks

Tonight Remy and I sat on the front lawn while Nic worked on the landscaping. Thus far Remy has been a little scared of grass. He will sit and stand on it when we set him there but if he is on the blanket he stays on the blanket. Remy and I were busy playing on the blanket (ok, I was half asleep but whatever) and Nic came over with a caterpillar.
Remy was mesmerized.


He wanted to hold it, squish it, eat it. He squealed with delight and then had several mini-meltdowns every time Nic took it away to save it from certain death.


Despite our best efforts I do not think the caterpillar survived its encounter with Remy.

A few minutes later Remy dared to venture off the blanket for the first time and discovered ROCKS!


He played with several rocks and then decided to venture out onto the gravel and discovered that he prefers crawling on the gravel instead of the grass.


He spent the next half hour crawling up and down the driveway, playing with the gravel, playing with the wheels on the lawn mower, discovering dirt in the flower beds and finding a whole lot of rocks in our rock beds. He was in heaven.

He also showed off his sweet walking skills to our neighbors Jeff and Lori.

After playing for a good two hours outside I thought for sure he would be all tuckered out and ready for bed. He had been such an angel today that I was looking forward to bed time because I knew I was going to have to gear up for tomorrow. Remy is only an angel every 3 weeks or so and the remainder of the time is spent in a power struggle between the two of us and he wins every time. After he is an angel he is always at his worst by the next morning so I knew it was inevitable.
Remy took his bath wonderfully, he took his bottle wonderfully, he even laid down in his crib wonderfully. He rubbed his eyes and pulled his blanket up over his head, his signal that he is indeed tired and will go to sleep with little fuss.
Ten minutes later we here a banging. Nic goes and checks on him and finds him standing up in his crib holding onto the rails shaking his bed as hard as he can so it bangs against the wall. Nic lays him down and comes back downstairs. Remy spends the next 30 minutes fussing and standing up and falling down. Finally I bring him downstairs to see if he will snuggle. That only makes him mad. So I try laying him in his crib and he starts crying harder than he has in months. We try that for a couple of minutes and then I put him in bed with me. Usually this works, I rub his tummy and sing to him, he fights and struggles for a couple of minutes and then goes to sleep.
No such luck. I try it. Nic trys it. We try putting him in his room. We try a bottle. We try taking his pajama's off. We try changing his diaper. We try baby Tylenol because at this point something terrible must be happening to him because he has been screaming for a good 30 minutes. Ah yes, I remember why I will never have another child. Its this lovely thing called COLIC. Remy introduced me to it 10 months ago and I will never ever forget it.
Finally Nic says he must get some sleep so I take Remy outside and get in the car to go for a drive because we are sure this will work to get him to sleep. At this point its almost 11.
We drive a few blocks from home and pass the Holiday station where all the cops hang out. One pulls out to follow me. Crap.
I have a burnt out headlight.
Crap.
I have expired tabs.
Crap.
I don't have my purse with my license and insurance card.
Crap.
My child is wearing only a diaper making him look rather neglected.
Crap.
I am wearing my pajamas which consist of old flannel pants and a tank top WITH NO BRA.
CRAP!!

So I turn down the street to go to my in-laws, thinking maybe its just a coincidence. The cop follows.
I turn down a street so I can go in the alley. The cop follows - I am sure thinking that I am looking pretty sketchy with all my evasive manuevers.
I turn in the alley and his lights come on.

So I stop, roll down my window letting the frigid cold air into the car with me in my skimpy pajamas and Remy in his diaper. At least he had a blanket.
I reach over and open my glove compartment hoping against hope that I have a stray insurance card. I turn and the policeman is already up to the window with his flashlight. Seriously, he must have jumped out and RAN to the window. I jump and scream a muffled scream because I didn't think he would be there so soon.
He apologized and said he stopped me because of my burnt out headlight. I try to nonchalantly fold my arms across my chest so he won't see that I am not wearing a bra. He asks for my license and insurance and I explain I don't have it because I was just trying to get my baby to sleep. I glance back at Remy and see another policeman peering in the back window at him.

I got a warning for having expired tabs and a burnt out headlight.

I went to my in-laws and Naomi was still up so we talked for awhile while Remy crawled around frantically trying to get into everything.

I finally head home and Remy falls asleep the second the wheels start rolling. That little stinker.

I just put him in bed at 12, but not before waking him up because I accidentally dropped him the last couple of inches onto his mattress because my hands gave out. Thankfully he went right back to sleep.

Now, one would HOPE that he will sleep nice and late since he went to bed 3-4 hours later than usual. But I know that he will wake up at 6 screaming for a bottle and thus will begin a day far different than today. I just kind of wish he would have waited until tomorrow to start being difficult rather than starting this evening.

Ah well, I guess he is pretty cute anyways - isn't he?