Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Sleep Disruption

Grass along the road at City Creek

We're having a weird week. Last Friday night, Iain did something he's never, ever, done before.

He slept in our bed.

From the time he was a little baby, this has been impossible. He DOES NOT WANT to be near us, nor will he tolerate the covers, nor does he appreciate the cuddly, parent-child bonding potential of co-sleeping. No way, no how.

Then, last Friday, he refused to go to sleep. Refused. And we finally offered him a spot in our bed. We knew (knew!) he wouldn't do it. But he lay down at the foot of the bed, on top of the covers, and went right to sleep.

I spent the night crammed against the upper right corner of the bed, no covers (he was atop them), listening to him snore and watching to ensure he didn't fall off the end onto his head. Charles spent the night crammed up against the left corner, so squished that he got up around 4 to take Advil for an aching back. Iain spread out across the bed, diagonal and spread-eagled, snoring like a freight train. Sn-O-R-ing.

Saturday night he wailed until 10:30pm. Sunday night he slept in our bed again. This time he decided to cuddle. So he attached himself to my head, then lay right up against me (on my covers), snoring and kneeing me in the throat. ALL NIGHT.

Last night he wailed until 10:15. Charles finally sat in the dark with him until he fell asleep.

The hills at the top of the City Creek walk (or at least as far up as we've gone)

So what's the deal? We know there are times when kids have a cognitive leap (like crawling and walking) and those times tend to coincide with sleep disruptions. So we were thinking maybe he was teething (no, says the ped.) or learning something new.

And it seems he was. This week, suddenly, his language skills made a leap forward. He's routinely speaking in sentences (like, "Where's the truck, Mommy?" and "What's that noise?"), and he's imaginative. What do I mean?

At dinner he said he had a job. What kind of job? Reading. What do you make? I asked. "I don't have any money!" he told me. Who does he work with? Kipper. What does Kipper do? Work on the yard. Who else works with them? Tiger.

Huh. We told him he should ask for a raise. Maybe double what he makes now.

And he sat through an entire original Babar book. With a plot. Then, at bedtime, he sat through the entire Lorax book.

He's thinking, y'all. Thinking hard. So I guess he's not sleeping much.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Loving the photos in between the paragraphs. As if they are a commercial interruption to soap opera: what will Iain do next? Will he fall of the bed? Will Mommy have a black eye from a flailing arm? Scroll past the lovely, soothing photo and see what that crazy kid does next....

Heather said...

I was thinking along the same lines as Miriam...the photos that are so lovely and peaceful to counteract Iain's unpredictable sleep schedule.

Anyway, when Nick was his age, he went through the same phase. I was going to suggest he is learning something new. (You are more versed in children than I was.) So, BD would take him in the living room to get settled down. And so became a long and extremely hard habit to break. Proceed with caution when it comes to Iain and his new sleeping schedule/arrangement.