arriving several hours after the fan bus...

By the time that we finally made it to St. Paul, it was dark and you

couldn’t see much of the Twin Cities, but we did pass over the Mississippi river and it made me realize that we have seen it twice in two months, once in New Orleans where it was a lot bigger than it was in Minnesota and now here at the start of the great waterway.  Don’t get me wrong, the top of the Mississippi is

  still bigger than the majority of rivers that you pass over or see in a given drive across the country.  But it doesn’t look like you are contemplating suicide if you decide to swim across it here.  We get to the Holiday Inn Express where the fan bus from Ferris and the pep band are staying also and get to

 crash in the room for 2 hours or so before Oscar decides to wake up and not go back to sleep.  He’s crying, he’s whining, he’s fretting and besides sleeping on the ground with my hand patting him in his peapod, there’s no sleeping for anyone in the room.  So, I bundle him up with his blanket and his doggie and put him in bed with John and me for the first time in

 his life.  I know that this is something that should be avoided, in the beginning because we could have rolled over and crushed him, but now because he’s a toddler and could learn that he could get to sleep with us if he cries.  But, we have to sleep and I’m willing to take a shot that a hotel bed doesn’t count like bed at home.  One thing I discovered in this co-sleeping arrangement was that Oscar does not stay still…..ever.  I wondered before how he’s always in a different position in his crib when I check on him, but now I know why.  He curls, tosses, turns, throws his hands around and shimmies all over the place.  I woke up many times with a tiny foot or hand in my eye and John got head-butted a couple of times.  So, this was not the warm, snuggly vision that I had in my mind about sleeping with our darling son when he is scared from a nightmare or something….it’s something to be avoided at all costs.