Here is a haiku I wrote about tonight's session of rocking Charlotte to sleep:
Eyes are not closing
The rocking chair is squeaking
Patience is thinning
And here's another:
If you sleep right now
I will buy you a pony
For the love of God
This is what I was thinking about while I was standing in the dark next to Charlotte's crib, trying to ignore the deadening sensation in my arm because the rocking chair was making too much noise for me to sit in it. I didn't want to lose the momentum I'd gained going through the bedtime routine by greasing the chair, so I just proceeded with the rocking while standing. Although, I suppose if my arm had fallen asleep, causing me to drop Charlotte on the floor, I would have been starting from square one anyway. It was a gamble.
Related to this conversation: I heard a little girl outside call for her mom a second ago, and I thought it was Charlotte calling for me. My reaction to that perception can only be described as full-on panic. Holy hell, that was a close one!
So, yeah, it's wearing on me a little. The reluctance to sleep. The fact that I can't, no matter how hard I try, get her into bed much before nine, and usually it's later. The fact that most nights I'm starving because I usually eat dinner after she goes to bed.
But, what are ya' gonna do?
Dusting off the cobwebs
6 years ago
Oh, Megan. First of all, you are hilarious, but more importantly... I've SO been there. I have to do this rock-till-sleepy thing, whereupon FC says "sleep" or "bed" which is my cue to transfer him, just so, into the crib. Then I have to rub his back until he's in a deep sleep. If I remove the hand too soon, he bolts up and sobs "momeeeee!!" and I need to start all over again. Hell. On wheels.
ReplyDeleteIf my second kid isn't a great sleeper, I will cry. That is all.
You need to write more Haikus (plural?). Those are awesome. Sorry that Charlotte is being a snot about sleeping. Tell her to cut that shit out.
ReplyDeleteI just wanted to send you some 'I am thinking about you.. that sucks' support. I have no advice or suggestions- I know you have tried it all. And after all, sometimes you just have to do what you have to do and remember 'this too shall pass'. Audrey hasn't been that bad lately with sleep, but she is certainly in the midst of a 'sleep regression' with regular night wake ups and babbling in her crib on and off for ever. And you know, Charlotte and Audrey have a deep connection. So hopefully they will both snap out of it soon. Hang in there.
ReplyDeleteMaybe the fact that she's doing this now means she won't be doing it when she's 11. Just a thought....
ReplyDelete@FFF- Man, that sounds like us right now. I actually did out her down awake tonight, which is very, VERY rare these days. She won't go for the back-rubbing thing. I hope your daughter will give you many nights of restful sleep!
ReplyDelete@Lex- LOL, thanks. I will tell her.
@Kathleen- Yes, I should have known that if Charlotte was giving me a hard time, Audrey would be doing the same for you! Oddly, the one thing this particular regression hasn't yielded is frequent nighttime wakings. She actually wakes up less during the night now. Though, the last two nights she has woken up. And most mornings I end up bringing her to my bed for an extra hour of sleep if she'll cooperate and not kick me directly in the head. Oh, it's so fun...
@KC Rawley(AKA Mom)- Um, yeah. Sorry about all that. Maybe this is my payback for what I put you through. Though, it kind of seems like I should be getting a break from the universe, sleep-wise.
Oh man, I'm sorry. Sleep stuff sucks, but at least you've got some good haikus out of it?
ReplyDeleteI will say, I would be a raving bitch if Jackson was that hard to put down AND I hadn't eaten. I become *WAY* more short tempered and bitchy when I'm hungry. That's why we eat when Jackson eats, even if it means a second snack later.
@Ginger- Ha! Somewhere my husband is laughing at the idea that anyone could be a bigger bitch than me when she is hungry! I am awful. Whenever people tell me they "forgot" to eat, I'm so confused. I won't ever forget to eat, and I won't let YOU forget I haven't eaten, either!
ReplyDeleteI snorted coffee on that pony one. :) I'm so sorry you're going through this. I don't have any suggestions, since my kid sleeps for crap, but I can offer solidarity. Some day she'll go back to normal. When we were going through this awhile back, Clara said that they (the kids) usually relent about a day after you feel you've reached your breaking point.
ReplyDelete