Screamer

I love it when Elliot makes his happy noises. Sometimes it's a cute sigh, or oohhs, ahhs, and mmms. But today was screaming. Like haunted house screaming. It seems to me that for the past few days he's been trying to make this noise, but a little would come out, and the rest would sound airy. Yet today he nailed it.

It didn't start until noon. Before, it was regular happy noises mixed in with fussiness. I turned on the tv for him while I took a shower (sprout channel). When I came out, I went back into the room to make sure he was okay. He smiled, and I continued my "getting ready" regime. Then he starts to scream. Every parent knows their child well enough to know whether a certain type of noise is either bad or good. This was good. Or so I thought. He perfected his screams to the point where my ears were ringing. After each scream, I said something to him like, "Whatcha screaming for buddy?" or "I think you're okay." Soon it had gotten to the point where I had to get up from my chair where I was flat ironing my hair just to put the pacifier in his mouth. A moment of silence except for Caillou in the background. Screams drown out the little bald Canadian cartoon boy. It literally gave me a headache. At this point I start to think of those impaitient parents who do something so horrific to their child just because they couldn't handle their child's noises. I could and would never do something to harm my kid just because I wanted him quiet. But how could I get him to be quiet??

During this time, he was in an electric swing, but it was not on. So I turned it on, and placed a frog on the try, hoping he would forget his marathon screaming. The swinging motion and frog did not exist for him. The screaming continued. I had just finished my hair, and thought to myself that maybe he didn't want to be in the swing anymore, hence the (happy) screaming. I took him out, and sat him in his crib with Elliot Bear (a bear we purchased at Build A Bear Workshop before he was born). I pressed the bear's right paw, and baby Elliot began to hear his daddy's voice, followed by mine. His eyes lights up and smiles breaks down walls when he hears our voices through the stuffed animal. Finally, quiet. I start to put on my clothes, then it came again. The screaming. Naturally I wanted to yell at him to stop, but I didn't want to scare him or make him cry. Besides, he doesn't know that my head is pounding because of his high pitch screams.

While he takes an intermission, I wrestle with him to put on his shoes, and finally take him to the car and into his car seat. In the garage, my dad was working on something, and he says to Elliot that he heard him. I thought dad would ask what was wrong with him, but he knew that that was his happy noise.

After we picked up Jeff, we went straight to the doctor's office for Elliot's flu shot and Hep B shot. He was suppose to get the Hep B shot a few weeks ago during his regular checkup, but we went a few days before he turned six months old. Usually we wait forever and a day at this place. Luckily, we didn't have to meet with the doctor, so our wait time was cut short dramtically. The nurse came in, and while Jeff held him down on the bed, I held his hands (Elliot demands to touch everything). The first shot went into his leg, and he flinched. But before he could make any sound, the second went in. I looked at our son after his last flinch, and he did not make one sound. No tear. No fussing. I believe I gave birth to He-Man. I know there has to be a thousand, maybe a million of other 6 month olds who haven't cried after a shot, but it's a great feeling pretending your child is the only one.

From the doctor's, we went to pick up a play pen I found on craigslist.com. We've been needing one for a few weeks now, because the first one I purchased came from a yard sale, and when I came home, we noticed that it came from a house of smokers. So after failed attempts of trying to clean and get rid of the smell, I just threw in the towel. This one was smaller, a Cosco where as the previous pen was Graco. I wasn't picky on the size, just as long as it didn't smell like smoke and everything was intact.

Walmart was next where I was greeted by Elliot's screams. Thankfully they didn't attract too much attention. His face gained more attention. Once we arrived home, his tushie greeted a new diaper, and his mouth a fresh bottle. This time, my dad was in the kitchen on the phone. Once he got off, I boasted on how well Elliot took those shots like a man. Dad was happy, then preceded to tell me about dinner. About 30 minutes later, the walls vibrated with the shrilling screams of a little boy. How can you scream with a smile on your face? Unfortunately, I shall never know. An hour later, dad says dinner is ready, and I take Elliot with me while Jeff checked his e-mail quickly. When we got down there, dad said that he tried to take a nap, but Elliot's screams kept him from achieving that. Though I felt bad, dad didn't mind. Babies have one main job-to do whatever they please, and if you don't like it, they'll continue to do it and 10 times louder.

Later we leave for Jeff's house. Because of the new play pen, we decided Elliot was to stay over his daddy's house, and give mommy quiet time. We tried a sleepover before with the first playpen, but poor Elliot was still covered in smoke after bathing it in baking soda, water, and vinegar. I opened up the playpen so I could wipe it off, then out of curiosity and to put my mind at ease, I placed my nose to the material. Black & Mild. Faint, yet familar. I asked Jeff to smell it, and hoped it was just me, that maybe what I smelled was musk, or something. He said it smelled like the tobacco, not the smoke. I vaugely understood what that meant. To me, that playpen was around something gross. I'm worried about it, but not as much, because you can't smell it just by sitting or standing over it. Only when you turn into a hound dog and your nose is firmly pressed against the material. Did I mention Elliot brought his screams to sleep over too?

So now I'm at home, with the clock turning to 1AM. So everything that I had said happend today, happened yesterday. I didn't really have a grand mommy alone time plan. I just wanted to watch tv, then catch up on a show online. I'm really into that show, "New Girl" with Zooey Deschanel. She's cute and awkward-guess that's the style now. But when I turned to Fox, I saw a pitcher getting ready to throw the baseball, and thought "Damn, I wanted to watch my show." Luckily, I had a backup plan. The BET Hip Hop Awards 2011. The host was Mike Epps (who I don't care for). Somehow I was drawn in before I saw that baseball wasn't over anytime soon. I rarely watch BET. I don't have a definitive answer as to why, but I just don't. So I figured this was my chance to learn who certain people were, like Ace Hood, and J-Cole. I never got my chance. I grabbed my phone to text my best friend to see how her weekend went with her husband, son, and four girls from his previous marriage. In a nutshell, choas erupted by the ex. Nothing bad happened with the girls, but with some incidents, the ex made a mountain over a molehill. So we chatted or over an hour, and I didn't care that I missed the awards. I wouldn't know half the people there, or would be shocked to see that certain people were still around. The one thing I did plan was to have iced coffee, something I take pleasure in after Jeff has gone home and Elliot is asleep for the night. I procrastinated on fixing it, and now I'm sitting here wishing I made it or had a snack.

It's erie, not having Elliot here. I had to check the back seat to make sure he wasn't there when I got home. But now my mind is playing games on me, reminding me to wash any unclean bottles, or to check up on Elliot and remove his bib and pacifier. I look at the crib, and all I see is his yellow sleeper that has the slogan, "Back to Sleep." I wonder what time Elliot went to sleep. Or if he had another bottle. Is Indy (Jeff's husky) minding her behavior? Will my fears of that smell from the new/used playpen come true? I'm sleeping with the phone on just in case. I miss my Elliot. But thank God I get a break from that screaming-for now......