Today's blessing arrived with the rising of the sun- which is always a nice way to start the day. Pumpkin was in bed with me after a 2:00am nightmare that left her shrieking, "Moooother!!!" (Yes, mother. She prefers to call me mother these days.... I don't know why).
I had shot out of bed and dashed down the hallway as fast as I could knowing that the decibel was only likely to grow. I moved toward her in the darkened room and found her already standing, arms stretched out, ready to leap into mine as soon as I was close enough. She wrapped her little arms and legs around me like a chimpanzee and nestled her tear-stained face into my neck.
I have mentioned before that my tolerance for sleep deprivation is very, very low. This has caused me to adopt a whatever-gets-mom-the-most-sleep philosophy of nighttime parenting. I am all for short term results and care little about long term consequences when faced with a parenting conundrum at 2am. I console myself with the knowledge that this same lackadaisical attitude was used with my boys and they both sleep perfectly fine now and have for many years. All of this is to explain why once Pumpkin was firmly attached to my body my immediate path was back to my own bed where I plopped her down between Superdad and I and climbed back underneath my warm, cozy covers.
I have a confession to make... I don't really mind when this happens every now and then. There is something so profoundly reassuring about how quickly our daughter can move from terror to complete peace by the simple act of lying her down in between the two people who love her most in the world. Without fail she falls back to sleep nearly instantly. Her breathing slows, her body relaxes, her arms fling open wide in complete trust. She rests easily in the knowledge that nothing in the world could possibly harm her now that she is in this place- this fortress of love.
This morning we all slept in a little and so Pumpkin and I awoke at the same time. As we stretched and yawned we began to peek at each other through bleary, sleepy eyes. Once she realized where she was, and who was next to her, she scooted even closer to me and burrowed her head into my arms. We both dozed that way for a little while longer and then slowly started to say our good mornings.
I whispered, I love you, Pumpkin.
She whispered back, I love you too, Mother.
And the day began...
6 comments:
I remember several years ago when my number two son, maybe 2 or 3 at the time, was in the habit of getting up WAY too early. Instead of getting up myself, he would crawl in the bed with me. Truly the best part of being a stay at home mom!
I like my bed space to myself. But there is something about those little arms, wrapping around my warmth...
This is a very sweet story and quite a blessing in many ways..allow me to share why: this past week, Joey was sleeping in our room (my in-laws were visiting and in his room) and one night he had a bad dream, so I popped him into my bed. Yes, he fell into a cozy dreamy state of sleep quickly and my heart was warmed at how comforted he is by just being near us. However, just as I was drifting back to sleep a foot (which is no longer small and cute and chubby) connected to my cheek. And then a few minutes later, an arm flopped across my chest. I felt like I spent the night with a very skilled acrobat. Needless to say, Joey got a great night sleep but I was bleary eyed in the a.m.
Sigh-I love the idea of sleeping with Joey *in theory* but the reality is another story!! :-)
April
Oh this made me teary. These moments truly are something to be thankful for. Allie was always in bed with us in the morning, but because of Shane and I's different sleep schedules now, the Weekids never are. It is something you will look back on wistfully, which I guess you know, seeing how you are also in round two of parenting. :)
I don't mind when this happens every once in a while, either. These days will be gone so quickly, and the little ones will not want to be held, touched, comforted. I'm treasuring them up while I can. But like I said, once in a while. I don't want this kind of closeness exactly every night.
What a sweet way to start the day.
I didn't mind it much (at all :)) when Monkey was two or three. I mind it a great deal now-- long arms and legs, and a (genetic?) predisposition for sleeping sprawled out leaves very little room for me.. maily because JD also finds a way to claim enough space for his notinsignificant self. Now, when he is on a business trip... that's a whole different story. :)
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