The Complexities Of Sleep

I can fall asleep in my bed. That’s it. Stick me on the couch and I’ll toss and turn. Fall asleep in my chair, never. One little snore from the hubby, I’m up for the night. Now the boy…that’s a different story. I woke up this morning to find my darling three year old asleep. Wonderful, right? No. He’s sleeping (no joke) on the TOP step . His little body is just the perfect size and fits one stair length amazingly well. He was sound asleep. I can’t even begin to recount how many near heart attacks I’ve had from the boy. When you’re expecting them to be sleeping in their bed (you know you tucked them in!) and they’re not there…..eek! This week Caeden’s sleeping spot of choice is (drum roll please) UNDER his bed. Sunday night I did a “where the hell did he go?” search and was starting to get a little panicky! I finally turned off all the fans and just stood in his room, listening. I could hear little boy snoring, peeked under the bed, and there he was, sound asleep. Amazing.

Now the 6 year old is the same way. That kid can sleep anywhere and through anything. During Christmas, some friends put on the Nativity Story (complete with manger). While the adults were playing the piano and very loudly singing Christmas carols, Kylie decided she was tired, crawled into the manger (which was outside), grabbed a blanket….and crashed. Adorable, but how in the world could she sleep? She’s infamous for falling asleep anywhere (including a very loud Halloween party complete with screaming noises and sugared up toddlers). Have you ever known a kid who will ask to be put to bed? That’s our girl!

This brings me to my oldest. That kid doesn’t sleep. Being the first child, perhaps I coddled her to much as an infant. I remember anxiously awaiting her to wake up so I could see her again. Ah, the good old days. She was rocked to sleep, nursed to sleep, and sung to sleep. And of course, any noise at nap time was met with an extremely cranky assault by an overprotective mother. No noise. As a result…she’s a pain to get to bed. She’ll stay up as late as you let her, and never naps. I’m the first child also, and I can guarantee my own mom was the same as me. My brother (the 2nd) can and does sleep anywhere, at any time. Alas, I'm an awful sleeper.

My lesson for new moms: Be noisy while your monsters sleep. I remember people telling me this, but at the time, a sleeping baby was a good thing and there was no way in hell I was going to do anything to jeopardize that precious quiet time. By the second and third, there was no such thing as quiet time!

And on that note, I need to go wake up the rugrats for school (of course the first is already up…the younger two are still sleeping). Case closed.