Things That Go Bump in the Night

I've always been reluctant to brag about my children's sleeping habits.

For one, we were the type of freaks that, when we got a good night's sleep, did so by either sleeping with three kids in our bed, or with either my husband or I sleeping in bed with a child (often rotating zombie-like between beds to keep everyone quiet). Not exactly everyone's idea of a "good night's sleep".

The other reason I've tried to keep my mouth shut is that the minute I speak the words, "the kids are sleeping SO WELL!", the sleep gods laugh cruelly and doom me to a night of horror. Seriously it never, ever fails.

I will go out on a limb right now and say (quietly, so the sleep gods do not hear) that the nights have improved a ton now that my youngest is four and is starting the night in his sister's room. About half of the time, I still wake up with him next to me by morning, but he knows to not wake me anymore when he sneaks under the covers and pushes my head off the pillow.

And, since he is the "baby" of the family, he gets away with this. If he gets too much bigger, I'll need to grow a spine and kick him out, but for now, I'm just thankful that he still likes sleeping cuddled next to his mama.

The girls, who are now 6 & 8 aren't as likely to try to sleep next to me, but my six year old still wakes up confused, stumbles into my bed and wriggles around like a worm on the end of a hook---turns out, she has to go to the bathroom, but for whatever reason, she needs me to wake up and tell her, "Go To The Bathroom".

And then there is my oldest, who will appear next to my bed and stand sphinx-like, breathing on my face until some part of my consciousness realizes she is there and wakes up. I don't know how this hasn't freaked me out enough to karate-chop her in the head, but she should thank her lucky stars I haven't spazzed out when I find her lurking over me in the dark.

Her reason for waking me is always the same: "I had a bad dream." I never dare to ask her what the dream was because then I hear a 10-minute, blow-by-blow account of some rambling, bizarre story that never sounds scary and never makes sense. Instead, I just give her a hug and send her on her way.

I don't handle these night wakings all that well, although they are infrequent enough to be bearable now. What I'm really dreading is when they are able to go out past midnight with friends, and I'm left home waiting up for them to come home. Then, I'll wish for the uncomplicated innocence of "I had a bad dream".

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Perhaps my kids are sleeping more soundly now that they have a Sylvania PalPODzzz to light their way to the bathroom and to offer a soft night light glow as they sleep.

This post was written for Parent Bloggers Network.