Sounds in the City

Sept. NYC tribute, a few days late (but who's really keeping track anyway?)

When we first moved to our recent apt. DS was around 9m old. He has always had sleeping issues and when we moved, we finally thought our troubles would be over. "This is the time" I reasoned with myself. He has his own room, his own crib. A new start for a new baby. Well, that was before we actually had slept there.

I remember the first night waking in a panic more than once from a noise I heard out my window. We moved from a very quite street in the "ghetto" (as some friends have lovingly referred to it), to a ground floor apt. next to the busy Queens Boulevard of Death and a window that shares the alley way. Now before you think that I have moved my family into an even more dangerous neck of the NY woods, you should know that this neighborhood is so "family" you can't even enjoy the park on a nice afternoon. I really don't consider my life in any danger although my MIL would disagree.

So as our first weeks in our new place started to drag on, and my baby wouldn't sleep and couldn't stay asleep I really started thinking crazy thoughts. Maybe there was a ghost in his room keeping him up at night. Or he really hated the decor of his new room and was trying to tell me so. It shouldn't take a brain surgeon to realize that it was our crazy neighborhood keeping the young lad from his zzzz's.

I have realized that it took us a long time to get here, but my son can now sleep through anything. we were on the street the other day and he slept right through a fire truck that drove by with his sirens BLARING.... completely deafening to me, but like a lullaby to him.

I still can't sleep through all of these, but so far these are the ones he doesn't seem to mind:

Jackhammer
teenagers in all their teenaged glory. they usually doorbell ditch me at least once a day
trash man picking up the glass for recycling at 4am
building maintenance workers. they are usually grinding metal at some point in the week. (their door entrance is next to mine)
brick layers from the building next door. summer project
rap music from car windows
fire engines
buses; passing traffic
car horns; yelling cabbies
drunk bum in the alley way (this one WAS scary!)
gunshot (I think. but how can I know for sure?)
baby screaming and screaming and screaming
pitter patter of toddler feet upstairs
hammering on my bedroom wall; building construction
neighbors fighting
Dog barking next door
subway late at night
sometimes I can hear a radio coming from out of my kitchen cupboards. still haven't figured that one out.
Mr. Softies IceCream truck Jingle. My son still thinks that this is a dancing truck (he loves the music), not a place to get icecream.
and most recently a drunken brawl all in loud spanish. again 4am.

I'm hoping to get him some exposure to quiter enviornments, or else he might never be able to sleep unless he's in a city, and we wouldn't want to ruin him for life, now would we?