Sleep

People who say they sleep like a baby usually don't have one.  ~Leo J. Burke


I should be going to sleep right now. Usually I hit the sack- that is Serta mattress- around 9:30 or 10:00. It's what's required of a gal who starts work at 7 and goes to bed with the knowledge that at any moment I may be joined by an 18 month old with sharp toenails and recurring dreams about being a FIFA star. Alas, I drank a cup of coffee at 7 pm. This may seem like an obstacle that could be easily overcome, but for a person who gave up caffeine for nine months of pregnancy and umpteen months of breastfeeding thereafter, the bean goes straight to my brain. 


So I am up, awake, fantasizing about sleep. It's funny how as a child, going to bed was a seriously devastating sentence which my parents seemed to inflict on us every night. I would stall mercilessly, get very quiet around bedtime on the off chance that they might forget about me, brush my teeth for a length of time that would make even the most meticulous dentist blush, and read, read, read until the bulb in the bedside lamp got hot enough to light something on fire (and it once did). Instead of stalling, I should have been writing my parents odes of gratitude, heaping them with praise for allowing me to stock up on the sleep that I would so badly need 20 years down the road. Alas, foresight is not 20/20. 


Judah is not a bad a sleeper. He can sleep anywhere- a trait he's inherited from his father. He can and does in fact sleep very well at night with no long period of wakefulness... when he's in our bed... 


We have an excellent sleep routine with Jude. Shortly after dinner he has a bath followed by pajama time/ cat tackling-snuggle session on our bed. Then we move into his room, put on his Chopin, collect a huge stack of books and cuddle up in his rocking chair to read at least a page or two from each one. After awhile, I (or Luke as the case may be) ask Judah to say night night to his books. He waves, I turn off the light, he snuggles against my chest and is a sleep in a matter of minutes. I plop him in his crib and the mission is accomplished. 


That is for 3 or 4 hours. 


You see, Judah has sonar hearing. It's as acute as a bat's. While he will happily sleep through the vacuum, wash machine, running tub, barking dogs, our pillow talks, and small earthquakes, he is acutely tuned to wake up at the sound of my bedside lamp being flicked off. The light goes off, the Judah goes on. And, after snuggling quite comfortably in your own bed for a few hours, the only thing which could possibly be better is snuggling even more comfortably between your parents, who are kindly warming the sheets as you rouse yourself to start screaming. And so, he joins us. We could probably "train" this behaviour out of him. We could refuse to get him, or continually lay him back down in his crib until he gave up, we could survive a few nights of screaming, but to be honest, on the nights when he does sleep through, we miss him. 


I figure I'll have lots of time to catch up on my sleep in my retirement. For now, I'll take the sleep deprivation and drink up every last snuggle. 


Now, for your evening viewing pleasure- a little glimpse at Judah's favourite places to sleep  :)

With his Daddy...

In any bed that is clearly not a crib...

The car...

The stroller...

On his various doting women...

And on occasion, in Africa...

Good night world!