As I mentioned in a previous post, our standby method for getting Alexander to go to sleep at night is to put him in the car and have Monstro drive him around while playing Izzy's “Facing Future” CD. It's restful for baby and cures that exploration bug within my darling husband, who returns each night to tell me of travels to new lands, such as Easthampton, Westhampton, and Williamsburg (not Historic Williamsburg, but another one).

But I'm tired of baby sleeping in his carseat, so tonight, it being Warhammer night and Monstro being out of the house, I tried a new routine.

First, it was a lovely afternoon so we took baby out for an hour-long stroll, wherein we explored Smith College and I got my glasses fogged up in their greenhouse.

Then, by 8:00 tonight, I'd fed baby six ounces of formula (after 10 minutes of nursing) and burped him well. This was followed by a bath for baby in lavender-oil spiked bathwater. Once he was clean and shiny I took him to the nursery, gave him a little infant massage (our post-bath ritual), put him in a fresh diaper and sleeper, swaddled him tightly and brought him into our room.

He seemed to know what was coming because he screamed his head off at me for 10 minutes, while I rocked him and patted him on the back. Once he calmed down a bit, I set him in his bassinet and plugged his pie-hole with a pacifier. Then I stood at the foot of the bassinet, rocking it back and forth while saying “shhhhhhhhhh,” replacing the pacifier to his mouth when necessary. Once he calmed down even more, I moved to the doorway of the bedroom, where I continued saying “shhhh” while also being able to enjoy the last 15 minutes of “Overhaulin.”

Happy Ending: Baby was asleep by 9:00 with the door shut! Damn, I'm good.