Sunday, April 30, 2017
The Joy of Waking Up at 3:14 AM
Like the memorable line in the story of The Grinch, it started out low and then it started to grow.
"Mommy ..."
I looked at my Fitbit watch through one very bleary eye.
3:14.
"MOmmy ..."
Maybe it's a dream. Maybe this isn't real.
"MOMmy ..."
Maybe she'll go back to sleep?
"MOMMY!"
I was up. Bridget, who conveniently is a very heavy sleeper, was dead to the world in a small ball on her side of the bed. I stumbled over Oscar on my way to Annabelle's room. I realized it was Wednesday and I had to get up for work in a few hours.
"What is it, hun? Are you okay?"
"I want to sleep in your bed," she said.
"Sorry, kiddo. You sleep in your bed. Why do you want to come with us?"
"I don't know."
Let's pause here for a second. This, traditionally, has been the tough part for me. My darling daughter has woken me up in the middle of the night for no good reason. I'm not happy. I'm someone that likes/needs a good night of sleep. And, unlike my care-free 3-year-old, getting back to sleep in the middle of the night isn't quite as easy for me as it used to be.
So, how should I respond? In the past, through different tough stretches of sleep deprivation (we've had our share), I've been frustrated, stressed, and annoyed. I hate to admit it (although that's part of what this blog is for, to be transparent), but I've patted her on the head and rushed back to my warm bed. I've stomped back into our bedroom room so that my sleeping beauty of a wife (and she is quite beautiful) can share my pain. I've waited out the "Mommys" or Daddys" until silence returned to the house.
This time, I took a deep breath and counted to four.
"You can't come in our bed, but what if I lay with you for a few minutes?"
"Okay," she said.
I climbed in, put my arms around her and pretended to close my eyes. Then, she put her arms around me and I smiled. I looked at Annabelle and had one of those "she's going to be 16 in like two minutes" moments. Then, two more thoughts: Why do I avoid this stuff sometimes? It's just one night of sleep, you wimp! We laid together for about 10 minutes and I asked if she was okay. She nodded her approval.
"Sweet dreams," I said.
"Sweet dreams, too," she replied.
I crept back into bed, read for a while, and eventually fell back asleep. It took a while and I was pretty tired when I woke up around 6 and told Bridget what she missed. She said she was sorry she slept through it.
Secretly, I'm not. And I hope it happens again tonight.
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You are so right...It will be the blink of an eye and she will be 16-You will be arguing with her about what she can wear out the door!
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