Tuesday, October 15, 2013

At midnight, in the home of the Catholic Librarian...

...I am dreaming about the devil. Very dramatic, no? More specifically, I am battling the devil. There are lots of objects around us in the Dominican colors of black and white.

Veritas, to the rescue!!

In the ensuing battle, I hear cries. Clearly, the devil's minions are harming children and we need to put a stop to this tragedy! Suddenly, I realize that Mike is getting out of bed and he's going to tend to Anne, because she is the child crying.

Oh.

Mike goes into her room and I lie awake in bed so that I can talk to him when he returns. I hear him changing her diaper and doing some soothing. He returns within 10 minutes, saying he's not certain why she was crying. All is quiet. I start to drift off.

Anne is crying again. Oh sigh.

I go in and she demands immediate snuggling. This isn't exactly a hardship, it's true, but I knew I had a long day at work ahead so was hoping that my superior soothing skills would get her back to sleep lickety split.

A half hour later, we're still in the rocking chair. There is lots of "Mommy rock! Mommy hold Anne!" I obliged her, of course. We had one failed attempt at a putdown, and were on Attempt #2. I could tell right away this one was more likely to be successful. She laid down.

"Mommy cover Anne up, all cozy."

"Anne hold something!"

This is Anne's thing. She LOVES to have something in her hand. In her crib, obviously, there isn't as much flexibility with what to give her than would ordinarily be the case when we're around to supervise her.

"How about Elmo? Here's Elmo to snuggle..."

"No Elmo!"

Ok then.

"How about the camel from Noah's Ark?"

"No camel!"

This is going swell.

As I'm desperately looking around her room for something safe to give her, she seems to reconsider.

"Anne want the camel."

"Ok! Here's the camel. Tuck him under your blanket."

"Mommy rub Anne's back!"

She's not shy about telling you what to do, that's for sure. She gets a back rub, and off I tiptoe.

All is fine until I start to doze off again. Then I hear the sound that all parents dread.

*Thunk*

I knew, I just KNEW, that that sound was the camel, having an unfortunate spill out of the crib. This is followed by the inevitable...

"My camel? Mommy, the camel!!! THE CAMEL FELL MOMMY!!" *hysterical sobs*

One camel retrieval trip later, I was praying that she fell asleep before the camel got adventurous again. I heard a litany of show tunes being sung for awhile from her room before the blissful silence. No more camel accidents, thankfully.

By this time, several hours had elapsed, and I knew I would be dragging today. Such is the lot of mothers, the world over. :)

2 comments:

  1. I feel your pain, but at the same time I love it when you post stories like these because they make me know I am not alone. Annamarie is a HORRID sleeper. Talking to my family makes me feel like a failed mom because obviously she should have slept through the night at a month old, and now at almost 2.5 she should not be doing this. Sigh. Glad I am not alone.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You are definitely not alone, sister! We're in this together. :) My mom also claims we slept through the night by 3 and 4 months. I flat out don't believe her. ;-)

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