Experiment

A few nights ago, we conducted an experiment, born of necessity. You see, Mommy had a stomachache, i.e. a fairly nasty 24 hour bug.

Because it was bedtime and she had just finished yakking, Mommy asked Daddy to take the boy up and get him to bed, then promptly passed out on the couch. Forty-five minutes later, she woke to the sound of screaming. It was Sam. He was screaming, "Mommy!"

Okay. First of all, I want to point out that my husband tried valiantly to soothe the boy and get him to go to sleep. He turned down the lights, fed him, talked to him - everything mommy does. He kept at it for three quarters of an hour while our 4-month-old screamed "mommy" and mommy did not come. Operationally, we call this "an eternity."

Secondly, it really does sound like "Mommy!" Even though I'm pretty sure that's impossible.

Anyway, when I finally regained consciousness, I promptly threw up. Right after that, I ran upstairs to rescue Dave from our screaming son. I found Sam lying on our bed next to Dave, bloated from the bottle Dave had been trying to feed him, still screaming. Dave looked at me wearily. "I think he wants Mommy," he said. God bless that man.

So what to do? I couldn't feed him anymore. He was already puffed up like a blowfish. So I got the pacifier, took him to the night-time feeding chair, and held him until he fell asleep. This took 4.2 seconds. Then I gingerly placed him in his crib and silently pulled the door closed on my way back downstairs.

So that about sums up the whole mommy experience. No breaks, but who needs 'em?