The rule, though, is that the girls have to go to sleep in their own beds, and when Mom goes to bed, she will put them in bed with her. Of course, if I put them to bed in the same bed at the same time, they would never fall asleep, and their would be mild hysteria if only one of them could fall asleep in my bed. So the rule stands.
Last night T-Bird insisted she would stay awake until I went to bed so that I wouldn't have to carry her. Every five minutes after light's out she would call from her room: "Mom, I'm still awake. I'm still waiting for you!"
After about an hour of that, I got a little irritated - she was throwing me off my FaceBook Scramble game. "T," I said, sternly, "I have put you to bed, and I expect you to fall asleep. NOW!"
"But, Mom," she called back, "It's your bed-time!"
I stayed up an extra hour later than I had planned, just to spite that comment.
Eventually I carried two dozing princesses to my bed and tucked them in. I placed them carefully, keeping enough place for me in between them. By the time I had switched off the light and found my way to my pillow, via the foot of the bed (a tricky accomplishment, I'll have you know!), a head that was not my own was resting on the central pillow.
I nudged it over to her side of the bed and snuggled down under the duvet. Under the covers I placed a hand on each of my daughters and thought how lucky I was to be able to have these treasures so close to me.
One of them rolled towards me. A little hand reached up for my face. The fingers smelt like bottom. I gently pushed them aside and turned to face my other child.
In turning my head, I landed up nose-to-nose with my offspring. She yawned into my face. I choked on malodorous morning breath. I turned back onto my back and sighed, pulling the blankets up around my chin. Totally priveledged to be flanked by these incredible beings, I gazed into the darkness.
On either side of me, a little leg lifted itself out from under the duvet and pushed the bedclothes down. I hung on to my piece of duvet as it was tugged towards the foot of the bed. I thanked my lucky stars for these beautiful children. And yanked the blankets back up.
The mini-battle that commenced was not pretty. There were casualties. They were the sleep-tuggers on either side of me. I was strong. My need for full night coverage prevailed. Eventually they gave up the fight, surrendering to the warmth of the duvet.
I lay panting in the night. It had been a tough fight. But thankfully, my offspring lay near me where I could reach out and touch them. Lucky me.
As the tossing and turning subsided, one child started a deep, rattly snore. This prompted the other one to follow suit. I was trapped in the middle. Stereo snoring. Great. I nudged and poked each of them, getting them to roll over and breathe normally. It helped - a little.
Yip, I thought to myself, these little misses are heaven-sent.
And with that, somehow, I drifted off to sleep.
*It must be noted, for the record, that when the girls awoke in the morning, they shared a pillow and started talking to each other. One of the first comments that was offered was "Oooh, your whole face stinks!" Which was met with, "No, your face smells really bad!"
So it's not just me...
1 comment:
You could have been describing my nocturnal adventures. Great story.
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