Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Middle of the Night Lurker

In the last few days, Sam has grown an affinity for sleeping everywhere except in his own bed. I hope this is remedied with the arrival of his new toddler bed later this week or early next, because the kid can't keep sleeping on the floor.

Last night, after Elise put Sam to bed, a half hour or so later, she spied him sneaking out of his room, crossing the hall and crawling into our bed. Maybe the lamp on the bedside table was too bright, because an hour or so later, I found him, face buried into his blankie, behind the chair in the living room.

I carefully scooped him up and placed him back in his bed. A few minutes later, Elise and I retired for the evening. I awoke (for the first time) shortly before midnight. Sam was next to me. Neither Elise nor I recall waking up or pulling him into our bed. Neither of us know how he got there. I picked him up and put him back in his bed....again.

Around 3:45, Pete woke up screaming. We think it was his new tooth. Yes! His first. As I was giving him his bottle, Sam casually strolls into our room. After a few minutes, he curls up on the floor at my feet like an armadillo. I put Pete back in his crib and bring Sam into his bed. He doesn't want to stay, so I lie down on the floor next to him, my head propped on one of his Ugly Dolls as a pillow. Together, we listen to Pete coo and toss and turn and grunt in his crib for the next half hour until he fell back to sleep. I slip out of the room and go back to bed.

At twenty after five, Pete is up again. So is Sam. Sam takes my spot next to Elise, and I give Pete his pacey. Everyone falls back to sleep until 6:10. Myself included, curled up on Sam's toddler mattress.

Last night was uncommonly difficult. Both boys, Pete especially, have been sleeping much, much better. Occassionally, when Sam is reluctant to go to bed, I have taken to telling him one last story. I lie by his bed on the floor in the dark and whisper a story to him. I take fairy tales or children's stories and brutally mutilate them. Jidou became Gapeto and Sam Pinnochio in one. In another, our building became a spaceship and all of his friends wore shiny, crinkly spacesuits. In the most recent, I told him about our boat trips to the Bahamas when we were kids.

These stories are bittersweet, because I know I am caving into his desire for "one more" before he goes to bed. It doesn't have to be a story, it could be "one more" of anything, just something to keep from having to go to bed, milk, a book, a story. This would really only be a problem if I didn't mind making up the stories so much.

2 comments:

Daniela Swider said...

Your post reminded me of a children's book called Sleepyhead that our daughter still loves. It's about a kid, who doesn't want to go to sleep so he keeps asking for one more book, kiss, etc.

Your boys may like it too, if you don't already have it. Here's the link: http://www.amazon.com/Sleepyhead-Karma-Wilson/dp/B003H4RDRE

Anonymous said...

Sounds like Sam has the whole family playing his new game of musical beds, which, and I'm sure we'll all agree, is so much more fun than sleeping in the same bed night after night!

Nanny