Stranger Danger!

I think Mr. Ibis had a nice Father's Day yesterday. Miles, not so much. We went to my mother-in-law's for a cookout that got rained out so was mostly indoors. She invited us, Mr. I's brother and his wife and three kids, and my inlaws' next door neighbors - three very large men and a granddaughter. We arrived first and things got off to an okay start as Miles recognized his grandma and gave her a smile. But he seemed a bit nervous as he took in the surroundings and his lower lip quivered briefly.

Just before everyone arrived I took him into the guest bedroom to nurse and change his diaper. I don't know why, but Miles looked around at the room and started to cry. We've brought him there before and I think the only other time he's been in that room was when I put him down for a nap there on Mother's Day. Is it crazy to think he remembered waking up alone in a strange room? Because I have no other explanation. Anyway I managed to change and feed him, and then came out to greet everyone as they were all arriving at once.

That's when Miles fell apart. He looked at the crowd, stricken, and began to wail. He looked scared, which I found baffling, because it's not like we've never taken him anywhere before. Babies are mysterious sometimes. For the rest of the day if I tried to bring him into the living room where all the big men were watching TV, he would scream in terror, even though none of them were even looking at him. He was so-so in the kitchen. The house was pretty crowded, I don't know if it was the close proximity or what... I just don't know. But he was very upset.

Finally the rained ceased long enough for us to go outside. Miles was fine being carried around the yard by his uncle, and then sitting on the back porch he calmed down to the point that he was smiling and laughing at his aunt and hanging out on her lap for a while. But as soon as the rained resumed and we went back inside - WAAAAAHHHH!

Even bringing him into a quiet back bedroom alone did not help as that room seemed to frighten him as much as all the big people did. Sigh. Needless to say this was mentally exhausting since I was carrying him around the majority of the time and completely powerless to soothe him.

Also, father-in-law grumping in response to the crying, "Did he get a nap?" Not helpful. I know his crying is unpleasant, how do you think it sounds two inches from my ear? I'm doing my best.

Also, when naptime did roll around I asked my mother-in-law if she minded me putting him down in her bedroom. The kids were watching TV in the guest room and I didn't want to kick them out, considering there were 14 people crammed into a tiny house on a rainy day. MIL said it was fine, so I put him down on my blanket on top of her bed... then when she realized where he was, she flipped out because she'd specifically made up the guest bed for him and her room was a wreck. Well, hello, I just asked you if I could put him there? Plus, he is sleeping now so what am I supposed to do, wake him up and move him? And then she went on to complain about this SEVERAL MORE TIMES even hours after the fact, about how she'd lugged the bedding ALLLL the way down to the basement to be washed and so on, I mean seriously, should I go back in time and not make that horrible mistake or can we just move on?

So, anyway, yeah, that was a fun day.