Sneaky Sleeper

Aidan,

 

You've been sneaking into our bed for a few months now. Nightmares, bad dreams, sleepwalking, checking on us, cold, thirsty, lonely? Who knows why (well,sometimes we do know that it's bad dreams, because you tell us), but pretty much every night/morning around 5 am you wind up in bed with us, and your mother doesn't have the energy to take you back again, and I'm a deep sleeper, so I don't know you're there until the morning unless you drape your arm over my head. Sometimes you manage to sneak in unnoticed by your Mom and we both wake up surprised to see you. Last night, though, was an even more amazing sneak sleeper maneuver.

 

I tucked you in, and you were fast asleep by 7:25 (those swim classes really tire you out). Your Mom and I worked out, we ate some dessert, we watched some television. There was a huge pile of laundry in the bed. The evening consisted of a few trips back to our bedroom: putting away the weights, changing into PJs, letting the dogs out, and in, and out again.

 

We made our way to be around 11:00 and your Mom says, "Did you know Aidan was in our bed?" I did not, but there you were, adorably sleeping in our bed. You had snuck in there- which is really interesting, because if you wake up while we're still up, you typically come and see us, but last night you must have simply wanted to sleep...some where else. This is also impressive, because you're not exactly light-footed. Your thud-thud-thud isn't exactly stealthy usually.

 

But last night, you snuck out of your bed, climbed in ours, tucked yourself in, and got nice and adorably comfrotable..

 

 

I don't know if the huge pile of laundry was good enough camouflage, or if you had tucked yourself in so deeply that I didn't see you, but with the multiple trips to the bedroom, I somehow missed your beautiful face sleeping in our big bed.

 

I'm glad we got to see you there, so peaceful, so at home, so comfortable- exactly the things we want for you to feel in every room in our home. I couldn't resist taking a picture; you looked so beautiful, sleeping there basking in the soft light coming from the closet.

 

When I see you sleeping, I am immediately transported back to your early days as an infant.

 

You have grown to be a creative, impressive, hilarious, complicated, emotional, confident, sensitive young boy. But when we catch you sleeping, especially dwarfed by the big comforter in our bed, it's not hard to recall the day you first held my hand and used to sleep on my and your mom's chest during long naps, drenched in afternoon sunlight.

 

We kissed you and took you back to bed for the night.

 

I awoke to the sound of my alarm at 7 am, and was pleasantly surprised to find you there, cuddled between your Mom and me.

 

 

Sleeping Here, There and Everywhere

Aidan,

You might have gotten accustomed to sleeping in the same room as us when were in Galveston.

Or maybe you sense that a change is coming, in the form of your little sister Julia.

Or maybe you're too cold at night. Or having active dreams. Or the air conditioner (which is right outside your bedroom) is too loud when it kicks on (because the compressor is slowly dying). Or maybe your bed is uncomfortable. Or maybe you want more shelter...like a little cave or something.

But, ever since Galveston, you've been off your sleep cycles.

First of all, in Galveston, since you were upstairs in a new place all by yourself, your Mom and I took turns laying down with you at nap and night until you fell asleep. You are a strong little boy and were determined to sleep in the new place. You took your blanket by the hand and gave it a 'let's do this' speech: the now famous, "Okay, blankies!"

You are, as we knew, very talkative when you are going to bed. But that, plus new place, plus excitement at the beach, plus a bit of heat stroke made for some very talkative night times at the beach. Take a listen:

But the sleep adventures have only continued once we got back home.

We put you to bed, and you talk up a storm, singing, laughing, fighting it and finally fall asleep. You request that Mommy lays down with you for a bit by saying "Mommy nighttime please." But then normally in the wee hours of the morning you and your blankies at the side off our bed asking to get in. The first couple of nights we obliged, trying to transition you back to dry land, and brought you into bed instead of waking up and carrying you back to bed and starting the whole nighttime please ritual again.

Okay, so it was just me. But it was way easier that way. But, as it turns out, you only cuddle with me for a few minutes and then roll right on to your already-very-uncomfortable-with-one-child-in-her-ribs mother and latch right onto her neck (really, her neck is your comfort spot...and you kind of choke her unwittingly). So, for a few nights your mother got no rest at all. Which wasn't good.

So we made a pact: Put Mr. Aidan back in bed.

This lead to some funny situations. Not once, but twice, we've gone into your room to check on you before we go to be and have not found you in bed at all. You've taken to setting up camp in your closet:

And last night you really set up camp in there good. No half-in, half-out for you: you were all the way in. With two blankets, and a stuffed elephant.

So we pick you up and put you back in bed and hope for the best. But, we're still getting one or two pop-ups per night where we take you back to bed, and then you realize that we're not going to let you in bed with us, and if you wake us, you'll be put back in bed. So, you have been wising up and deciding just to sleep near us...as near as you can get. With hilarious and precious results.

Here you were this morning at the foot of our bed:

And earlier this week, in a more comfortable spot. Though who knows where you displaced Toby to.

We know that this is adorable, for sure, but we're not quite sure exactly what it means.

So we're looking into it and trying to find the best way to make sure that you- and all of us- can get the best night's sleep possible.

Hopefully soon we'll all return to sleeping through the night, so that when Julia arrives and immediately starts sleeping through the night, we'll all be rested and ready to go! Well...at least one can dream.

Good night and sweet dreams, my traveling-while-sleeping son.