Our last three babies have been incredibly easy newborns, who spent most of their time swaddled or being worn, sleeping. But there is an age that arrives where I've come to dread the nights (in a much smaller way than what moms with colicky newborn experience) and it usually arrive around ten months.
At ten months old Patch, Maggie, and James all seemed to realize that the world continued after they went to bed and they absolutely did not want to miss a moment of it. James has reached that stage this week. And as I tried to convince him to go to sleep last night I began to write this post in my head, trying to store away all the reasons that he would not even try to close his sweet little eyes.
I should probably add that when he first refuses to sleep I would try to bring him downstairs and play with him, and he would scream to be picked up. He didn't want to sit on my lap. He absolutely didn't want me to eat my own dinner (I'd fed the kids while Paul was getting out the door to work and had made the mistake of thinking I'd eat after they went to bed). Or brush my teeth. Or let me pick up a book while I've heard him and do the last night of prayers preparing for our upcoming consecration to Jesus through Mary. He didn't want me to do anything. He didn't want to do anything. But most of all, he didn't want to sleep.
And now here is an abridged list of all the reasons that James does not want to go to sleep (with an attempt at remembering them in chronological order). Beginning while I tried to convince him to go to sleep in my arms, after realizing that putting him down, and even laying next to him and playing with him on his blanket was just not happening.
He wants to see the cat first.
He wants to grab the cat.
He wants to yank on the cat's tail.
In case you're worried, Kittyfish is incredibly smart and doesn't come anywhere near our younger three while they are awake. No cats were harmed in the writing of this post.
He wants to scream (happily) while he watched our cat watch the cat across the street from our front window.
He wants to pick up a spoon I was trying to eat dinner with, off of the table.
He wants to eat my dinner (after eating his own and Patch's. Notably he does not want a snack when I offer it).
He wants to bang the spoon against my bowl. While I try to eat.
He wants to get down off of my lap.
He wants me to pick him up.
After going upstairs...
He wants to find the idiot cat who's followed us upstairs and is meowing in the room with us.
He wants to grab the cat.
He wants to eat my watch.
He wants me to take the watch off so he can find the two lights he knows that are on the back that measure my pulse.
He wants to eat my phone.
He wants to stick his fingers in the fan.
He wants to pull the fan out of the window.
He wants me to turn the fan back on.
He doesn't want the blanket touching his legs.
He's cold because the fan is back on and the blanket isn't touching his legs.
He wants me to hold him up over my head while I lay on my back and tell him he's an airplane.
He wants me to hold him up over my head while I lay on my back and tell him he's an airplane.
He wants me to hold him up over my head while I lay on my back and tell him he's an airplane.
He needs to find where I plugged in my phone.
He's trying to squeeze himself down between the wall and the bed.
He wants to put his fingers into the fan (and while the fan is off we discover that that is actually impossible with this fan. Thankfully.).
He wants to nurse.
He doesn't want to nurse.
He absolutely does not want to nurse.
He's thirsty and decides he needs to nurse.
He's not getting much milk because he spent the previous hour before he started fussing, nursing (and he had been burped, so it wasn't that).
He's changed his mind and wants to find the cat again.
He needs to look out the two inches of window space between the fan and the curtain.
He wants to know why I won't pick him up and pretend he's an airplane.
He's too tired to sleep.
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| Oh but he can sleep in the stroller. While we walk past traffic and go over extremely rough sidewalks. |
And finally after two hours of trying to get him to sleep he and I fell asleep, only to be woken when a certain two year old who's had a high fever for two days woke up and needed Mommy... approximately half an hour after getting James to sleep.
Thankfully, I was able to get everyone to sleep again in less than ten minutes.
Now if I could only remember how long this phase of not wanting to sleep lasts... It's a sweet time, but it sure is exhausting!
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