Last night I spent from 12:30 to 1:30 a.m. in my bedroom closet reading because I couldn’t stand hearing my daughter scream. She’s normally a great sleeper – she started sleeping through the night at three months – but for the past few weeks she’s been waking up at least once in the night, and will not go back to sleep without being comforted. She’s cutting her fifth and sixth teeth (the ones right in front on top), and I was told these are the most painful. So I hate flat-out ignoring her because I know she needs Tylenol for the pain. But once I go in there, she really almost jumps into my arms and clings to me with the grip of death. I’ve used this opportunity to rock her back to sleep, which has only happened three times in her entire life (she’s not very snuggly). I want to enjoy those rare moments whenever I can get them.

So I was rocking her last night, and I gently put her down after a few minutes. She proceeded to scream, and did not let up for an hour. I knew she needed to put herself back to sleep, and I knew I did not have the strength in my tired body to let her do this. So Kabob convinced me to retreat to the closet, which worked. I felt like a big weenie, but when I reemerged an hour later, the house was silent. And this morning she greeted me with a smile on her face. Hey, whatever works.

posted: 05 October 12
under: family