Why, son, why? Why must we be up at 5 a.m. today? The questions rolled over in my mind a hundred times... that is, when I could keep myself awake as my 15 month old climbed up and down from the couch on which my body deeply wanted to drift back off to sleep. He is a pretty sweet baby in the mornings. He has always been an early riser unlike the other three of us in our house. Recently he has taken to sleeping until 7 a.m. rather than his usual 6 a.m. wake up call. But not today! Today he made up for those few days of sleeping in, and so there we were up at 5 a.m.
I stumbled into the kitchen and poured him a sippy cup of milk. Then I grumbled my way back to the couch to hopefully sit, cuddle, and soothe him back to sleep. I did not turn on many lights and definitely no television, thinking that eventually he would get the idea. Then I realized he needed a dry diaper, so up again. Dry diaper and back to the couch. We sat, he drank. Then the milk was gone and he was fussy. So I stumbled back to the kitchen to acquire more milk and also get him a breakfast bar. I lay back on the couch trying to close my eyes (at least one eye while I kept the other on him). Then he began to play the up/down game... up on the couch, down off the couch.
Urgh, maybe I should go wake up my husband for his turn of early morning duty... but then he'd just turn on the TV and go back to sleep while my son stared enamored at the bubetube.. so no, I'll stick it out.
By six o'clock he was bringing out the books. Once, twice, I'll read them; by the third time, I'm getting frustated. Surely this kid wants to go back to bed. I lie there glaring at him. "I love you," I say, "but don't you want to get a little more sleep before the sun comes up." Finally, at 6:20 a.m. he goes toward the stairs to his room and grunts his usual "ehh."
Aha! I ask, "want to go back to bed?" I pick him up and begin up the stairs. "Bed," he repeats, "Bed!" YES, exhausted and trudging myself to his bedroom, my son has tossed me a "mommy bone"-- not just sleep but a new word. My son can say "bed!"
I didn't realize he was talking now. That's great! I love your banner picture.
ReplyDeleteMax usually sleeps until 7:30 or 8, but occassionally, he will wake up around 2 am and not go back to sleep until 3:30 or 4 am. Those times are torture!! He will just cry and we have no idea why. We will sit in his room in the dark and try to get him to go back to sleep. This happens very rarely, but it does happen.
ReplyDeleteThis is a wonderful post. I can see it all happening.
ReplyDelete