Monkey’s sleep has been disrupted for the last week or so, understandable given the fact that he has not been feeling well. He’s been waking up several times during the night and seeking me out. I normally escort him straight back to bed, lay him down, cover him over and then return to my bed. Sometimes this will happen multiple times in a single hour.
Since I have been sick too, and sleep deprived (stress and sickness and Monkey’s interruptions) I’ve been asking Duhdee to take a few turns. Ever since Monkey was an itty baby, I’ve always done night wakings. Duhdee is just not at his best in the middle of the night. When we’ve gone through rough periods like this in the past I do them as long as I can and then will ask for help and he does help with limited grumbling (he never remembers grumbling, sometimes doesn’t remember me waking him up!)
Last night Monkey came in and woke me up around 1, he was scared (I have to assume a bad dream b/c he can’t tell me.) In these situations I let him crawl into bed with us for a while. I was so tired last night that I just gave up my spot, tucked Monkey in and went to take a nap on the couch, lol. I returned to bed at 2:30 and he was sound asleep. I took him back to his bed and then it started. Every 15 minutes he was back in our room. Argh! At 4:30 I asked Duhdee to take over, I have to work today.
For the next couple of wakings Duhdee walked Monkey back to his room and tucked him in. Then Duhdee did something that has NEVER crossed my mind. When Monkey walked into our room Duhdee said “Go BACK to bed.” very firmly. With wide eyes I watched my little man turn right around and go to his room.
“Aren’t you going to check on him?” I asked.
“Nope.” Duhdee replied and then he promptly fell back asleep.
I lay there for quite some time listening for Monkey, I expected him to return at any moment. He didn’t though. Little man had gone back to bed, covered himself over then fallen asleep. Why, in 4 years, has it never occured to me to just TELL HIM TO GO TO BED? I’m totally going to try this the next time!
lmao…ya know sometimes the easiest things just seem too easy for our kids. Hope it works for you again. 🙂
That’s a good one. Blake will occasionally obey when we tell him to go back to bed. He usually requires some wrestling, though.
Great story. Ian has had sleep issues since he was about 2 or 3. That’s why he takes Clonidine at night. We now swap nights of getting up if he does. I take Mon/Wed/Fri, we swap weeks of Sat. nights. Jim takes the other nights. I’m a bit ‘tougher’ than Jim. He will go lay on the floor in his room if Ian is not consolable. Me? No way! I like my bed too much. So now, if Ian says, “Daddy”, I go get Daddy and let him sleep on the floor since he started it. 🙂 I hope Monkey’s sleep issues don’t last.
We had a lot of sleep issues with Monkey when he was little, this was just a bump in the road due to his cold. He’s back to sleeping again and I’m feeling human.