I tell myself that one day he will be a teenager and it will be all I can do to rile him out of bed and harass him to go walk the dog while I sit at the kitchen table drinking my coffee and reading my book.
But for now Jack takes a long time to go to sleep and he wakes up at obscenely early hours in the morning. I realized in the last couple days that it's due in part to the fact that he doesn't eat a lot of dinner so I think when he stirs in the morning he's really hungry and it's hard for him to go back to sleep.
This morning he woke up at 3:30 demanding strawberries (!). I told him I didn't have any strawberries but I had blueberries if he wanted some. So we laid down in bed together under the covers, I asked him if he was cozy and he said, yes, then he smiled at him and giggled and ate blueberries, occasionally putting one in my mouth too.
So if he's going to wake up at 3:30 AM demanding fruit, at least he shares, right?
I know this isn't the right method for getting him to go back to sleep, okay? I know that I should just tell him it's time to sleep, shut the door and let him cry. I also know I'm not helping him become a better sleeper, and that makes me a bad parent. But you know what? I can't help it. I think that if he wakes up and wants a banana that he must be hungry and if he's sitting on the edge of his bed wide awake telling me he's done sleeping, he's probably not going to just lay down in his bed and turn over and go back to sleep. He's probably going to get up and play, and more often than not, bonk his head or tip something over or open a jar of something I didn't even realize I left out and he's STILL NOT GOING TO SLEEP. I'm not trying to defend my actions, I'm just saying the logic that comes to mind when it's 3:30 in the morning and I'm cold.
And frankly, getting under the covers and singing the ABC song with my warm, cuddly, sweet-smelling little boy with the soft curly head of hair rested against my arm seems pretty attractive. Certainly more attractive than trying to go back to bed and listening to him scream for the next two hours during which I WILL STILL NOT BE GOING TO SLEEP EITHER. So I'll help him pay for his therapy if it ruins him as an adult, which I just don't believe it will.
So I tucked him back in and he slept for another hour, but when he woke up at 4:30 there was no going back to sleep. So we laid in bed and told stories and whatnot until 6 when I finally said it was okay for him to get up.
Only 10 more years 'til he's a teenager...
