This little person spent the night at our house last Saturday. Torey traded her for my three kids and considered herself the winner in the bargain. Wizzie do what Wizzie do and what she do is wake up in the middle of the night almost every single night and scream her sweet little head off until Torey (desperate and crazed) pulls her into their bed and then the real fun begins. Sure Willa finally shuts her little gob and – technically – falls asleep, but she does so sideways so that she is kicking one parent and head butting the other.
I took this Naughtsy Taughtsy a few weeks ago, kept her up a little late and then when she woke up in the wee hours, changed her bum, petted her and put her back in bed. She fussed a bit, but was too tired to give it her all. Within minutes she was asleep.
Back home she reverted to her old pattern so we scheduled another night at Aunt Ali’s sleep clinic.
When I awoke at two and couldn’t get back to sleep until after six I questioned the wisdom/hubris/ridiculousness of an insomniac running a sleep clinic. Just before six, as I was finally drifting back to sleep, Willa woke and began to call my name, “Dea! Dea! Deeeeeee-aaaaaa!”
I staggered to her crib. At the sight of me she scrabbled to pop her pacifier in her mouth and to grab Teddy. It was 7 a.m. That seemed a reasonable time to wake up. I picked her up and staggered back to my room. She snuggled in between Paul and me and then we both passed out.
My “sleep” was punctuated by kicks in my back and dream sequences where I tried to gain an inch of space since Willa was plastered against me and I was hugging the edge of the bed. The few times I was able to open my eyes she was lying beside me peacefully, her own sweet eyes shut. The moment I shut my own the next assault began.
Paul, was waging his own battle. He was too tired to take anything more than a defensive posture from Teddy who kept hitting his head every few minutes.
We all finally awoke around nine. Woke is really a misnomer; it would be accurate to say that our sleep finally ran out. We both felt like death; mine was stone cold and Paul’s was slightly warmed. Willa was fresh as a daisy, a thirsty and ravenous daisy no less.
Aunt Ali’s Sleep Clinic has closed its doors.
I’m sure this comes as no surprise.
“We all finally awoke around nine. Woke is really a misnomer; it would be accurate to say that our sleep finally ran out. We both felt like death; mine was stone cold and Paul’s was slightly warmed. Willa was fresh as a daisy, a thirsty and ravenous daisy no less.”
Brilliant! “our sleep finally ran out.” Great stuff.
I love that line too. That’s pretty much every morning for me. Is that bad?
Alison, I have just started reading this and will be reading far into the night to get caught up…that is as soon as my vision clears from laughing so hard!