Wednesday, March 16, 2016

To put a boy to bed...

This is how he fell asleep...
He wouldn't let me sing to him...
He kicked and he screamed and he fought...
So I started quietly whispering the words from his favorite book.
The one that lives in his toy box.
The one that he will bring to me out of a stack of half-a-dozen choices.
I think I've read it a million times, so it's no surprise I have it memorized.
'Sun's up, morning's here. Up and at 'um, engineer.'
Immediately, he stilled.
So I continued.
One shuddering breath.
Then another.
He pressed his ear against my lips and I whispered  the words to him.
I could feel him relaxing.
He knew as I neared the end of the story.
He started to fuss again before I was even finished.
So I started over.
'Sun's up... '
Stillness again.
I must have' read' that book ten times before he finally surrendered to sleep.
I was foolish.
My arm was under his neck.
Completely numb.
But he is sleeping.
This is a huge win for us.
Sleep has been a struggle for the past couple weeks.
So under his neck my arm stayed.
For an hour and a half.
With his ear against my cheek.
And his beautiful, sweaty head next to mine.
This was my birthday.
Sleepy, terrible nap wars like this make me so tired.
But the sweet, sweaty snuggles - they are everything. 

1 comment:

  1. How sweet!!! You'll have more naps without his head tucked next to yours, but you'll never get this one back. Well done, mama!

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