1 Mother 2 Another

Monday night I got home from rehearsal and
climbed into bed just past midnight. Wide awake with song lyrics
and dance steps running through my head, I didn’t fall asleep
until 1 a.m.


1:05 a.m., Cora woke up crying. I nudged Brian, who reluctantly
stirred and went in for a cuddle. Crawling back into bed a few
minutes later, he hissed, “That’s the third time
tonight I’ve had to go in to her.”


Uh-oh.

Sure enough, she woke again in an hour or
so. Brian went in. Thank you, honey.


Then we heard a knock on the door, and Maddie came into our room
– for the first time in her life – upset from a bad
dream. (Usually she calls out and waits for us to come.) Brian took
her back to her room, snuggled her, and reassured her that there
were no strange beeping noises coming from her ceiling.


Sixty seconds later Maddie came back in again, still sure she was
hearing her dream noises. I got up and walked her back to bed,
snuggling with her and struggling to stay awake as we listened
together. “Can I come sleep in your bed?” she asked,
half-sniffling. “Try one more time in your own, ok?
There’s nothing in here that can hurt you,” I replied
before staggering back to my own bed. It was now 4 a.m.


Another sixty seconds later, Maddie was knocking again, fully
crying now. Surrendering to the inevitable, we let her crawl in
with us –for the first time in her life. Maddie promptly
smothered me and fell into a snoring sleep, not waking up through
another Cora waking.


And when my alarm went off at 5:45, Maddie was still out. I wish I
was.


I haven’t felt so sleep-deprived in several months, and let
me tell you, it gets harder the older your kids get. Once you move
out of that newborn-constant-exhaustion zone, it’s hard to go
back in. And Cora’s the crappiest sleeper I know, but
she’s been sleeping probably 20 nights out of 30 these days
and I’m starting to enjoy my sleep.


Seriously, how old does a kid have to be before you give her
Nyquil?