The Games We Play

I cannot remember the last time Charlie and I got a complete night's sleep. Part of the problem is that we are idiots and we go to bed way too late. Part of the problem is that the girls, yes both of them, wake us up almost every night. At least one of them will call out for us, okay they really call out for me but we take turns attending to them, at least once a night. We haven't figured out how to make it stop, so it just goes on and on.

With Sarah, it's bad dreams. Or at least that's what she says. She can't tell you anything about them and clams up when you ask and will only say that she had a bad dream. We're not really certain whether she really did have a bad dream or that's just a trigger word that she knows she can say and she won't get in trouble. Usually we just tell her everything is fine and give her a kiss and she rolls over and goes to sleep. Occasionally we have to take her to the bathroom. She goes right back to sleep, we don't. Well, I usually do or can within 15-30 minutes, but once Charlie is up he has a really hard time going back to sleep.

We're not really sure what Amanda's problem is. She doesn't appear to be teething anymore, as all her teeth have broken through the surface, but she still wakes up a couple times a night. It's much simpler than it used to be. She used to want us to hold her or rock her or stay in the room. Now, as soon as I walk in the room I turn her music on. Before I can even get to her crib she has flopped back down in her bed on her pillow. I tell her it's not time to get up yet, cover her with her blankets, pat her on the back and leave the room. It's not hard, just really annoying. Last night I did it twice. The third time she refused to lie back down and go to bed.

It was 5:03 a.m. when I heard her call my name. I had just dragged myself out of bed to get ready to go to the 5:30 a.m. yoga class. Yes, I am crazy, but it turns out this is the best time for everybody in the family. Except me, that is. However they don't have child care at the yoga studio so it's either first thing in the morning or pay and not go. We're not that rich, so I go. I went into her room, turned on the music and told her to lie down. Her answer, "no". She was polite about it, but wasn't going to do it. After a few minutes I grabbed her out of bed and brought her to our bed. I lay down with her on my chest, thinking this would be my excuse to get out of yoga this morning. Of course Charlie being the wonderful husband he is took her out of my arms and sent me on my way. Man, so close!

As for Sarah? She and Andy share a room that used to be two rooms, the previous owners took out a wall, so their room is about 25 feet long. She claimed that the other side of the room was the cause of her bad dreams. So before bed I found a night light and put it in the only visible outlet. We did not hear a peep out of her all night. I mentioned to her this morning how great it was that she didn't wake us up last night. Her response? Yep, it was all because of the night light. Really? She couldn't have told us that weeks ago? Who knew that was all it took.

Hopefully this will continue with Sarah. As for Amanda, we may have to wait until her vocabulary gets a little better. Or we could put a down comforter in her crib, she seems to really like ours.