"We're gonna take you for a ride"

Tonight I (and it was "I" since Mia's father is out of town) resorted to what experienced parents tell me is a tried and true way of getting a child to sleep-- we went for a ride in the minivan. Mia usually has no difficulty going to sleep. First a bath, toothbrush, then p.j.'s, then she gets a bottle while being rocked. It is usually a winning formula. Within second after finishing the bottle, Mia pushes it away and starts snoring. In the past week, though, Mia has had a tough time going to sleep on several recent nights. We've tried a number of things. We've thought about going for a ride in the van, which could be nicknamed Sominex for its ability to induce sleep during the day, but usually by that time of the night, I have my p.j.'s on and don't want to get dressed again. Not tonight. After letting Mia cry in her crib for over a half hour (checking in every 5 minutes like the books say, of course), I put a blanket around her and took her for a ride. By the time we'd made the one mile trip to the Kroger parking lot, Mia was in dreamland. That was so easy, I may just do it more often. After all, who says you have to get dressed?