In 4 days we leave for France. Four days, and our family packs up its necessary belongings and embarks on a 12 hour trip across the Atlantic. Louison will meet half of his family for the first time, including a cousin only 3 months older than him. We, the parents, will indulge in unpasturized cheeses, foie gras, wine, and saucisson. Surely, we will take advantage of the low cost babysitter known as “Mamie.” Every morning, we will wake up to a breakfast lovingly prepared for us (Thanks Mamie!). We will visit the sea. We will take daily hikes along the island coast. We will buy beautiful clothes. Only 4 days to go. And the closer we get to that day, the lazier we become.

France has become our excuse. Our big excuse for our lazy, lazy parenting. For you see, what is the point in insisting on a bedtime routine when we are just going to mess it up when we travel across 6 time zones in a few months? All that hard work would be wasted anyway! And hey, what’s the point in insisting that he stay the night in his crib, when he will be sleeping with us when we go to France anyway? Then we would have 2x the difficult nights, both before and after our trip. Oh and naps? Well sure that routine would be the first to fall apart on vacation. So we have been hippy parents, letting the baby dictate his own routine. Reassuring ourselves that it would be pointless to try.

I admit I’m a little nervous for what awaits us upon our return. Will we be forced to get tough? We both agree that the baby needs to take more consistent naps. We agree that he needs to go to bed at a routine time and give his parents alone time. We agree that he should move into his own room sometime in the near future (Wow, this one is still hard for me to think about! I’ll miss having him in our room.) We agree on all this, for the sake of our marriage. So will we get tough? Or will we be able to find another excuse? Teething perhaps? That’s always a nice one. Or maybe separation anxiety? Or maybe, hopefully, we will find the parental resolve that’s supposed to come naturally.

But for right now, I think we’ll just focus on a beautiful vacation.

Hé hé hé, on trouve toujours plein d'excuses ! Et puis au bout d'un moment on n'en cherche même plus.
Gabriel a dormi avec nous jusqu'à 3 ans, oui oui. Et j'ai l'impression que ça fait des siècles qu'il est devenu un grand garçon qui vit sa vie dans sa chambre à lui. Heureusement qu'on a refait un bébé pour se tenir chaud dans le lit ! :-D

Wow, France. Lucky lucky you. I appreciate your well thought out comment on Tertia's blog in relation to the African crisis. It gave me a reason to come over and visit. Enjoy your holiday!

Sorry, accidentally left the wrong URL :(.
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I'm not sure if I'm lucky or not, EdnaB! The prospect of a twelve hour trip w/ a seven month old is frightening me right now.

Thanks for the compliment.

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