A First Time for Everything

I think a lot of parents do the whole lay-down-with-my-kid-till-they-fall-asleep thing. Not me. Not us. Not EVER. Until now. Tonight I broke down and did it!

It's jetlag you see. Apparently small two-and-a-half-year old boys don't deal with having their body clock immediately moved by 8 hours. (Neither do older adult types, either!). Last night it's was Mike's duty. His strategy was to get said small boy up at 1am, turn on all the lights, give him snacks and movies and let him play. Interesting strategy if you ask me (sorry honey). But it was fine cause it meant Mike could watch the Buckeyes play on streaming video at 2am. He was happy for an excuse to be up at that ridiculous hour for a sporting event. And eventually he slept.

Tonight when the midnight cries of "I wanna get down" began, I stepped up. My strategy? Lay in bed with him and don't move. I didn't know what to expect in response. I was pleasantly surprised!

There was a little crying and complaining. But mostly my nose was being pinched, legs being thrown over my waist, knees in my back, little hands on my face, and nice gentle kicking on my lower back... which felt nice, actually.

I think I laid there for two hours. I snoozed off and on, and my boy... well... he rolled and pinched and kicked and poked. UNTIL... he fell asleep!!

But then, as I was doing the classic contortionist move trying to get out of bed without stirring him... his eyes popped open! What to do?? I lowered myself back down on the pillow and pretended that me climbing out had been a mistake. Eyes closed. Few more minutes pass. Raise up again. Eyes open!! Oh no!! This time I said "I'm gonna get you some more water, okay Sonny?" "Okay Mommy." And when I brought that water back he told me "Get out." Okay then.

And now it's 3am and he's snoozing contentedly and I'm still wide awake. Could someone come lay with me in bed? Oh wait, someone is. That big someone is also snoozing contentedly. :)

Anyway, it's hard to believe some parents play that game every night trying to get their kids to sleep.

Wanna know something else? My son LOVES to sleep with his arms behind his head. Here's a picture of him back in August when we drove across the country to get to Colorado.



This is a few months later sleeping in his big-boy bed.



And if I wanted to I could now provide you with a photo of him sleeping in that very position this very minute, but if you think I'm gonna risk his sleep with a flash you have GOT to be kidding me...