Sleepless in Southern California

My wife and I are blessed, and we know it. We have two absolutely wonderful children that bring so much joy into our lives. They don't get sick too often, they don't cry too much, and they don't embarrass us in public. Yes, we have it pretty good. Until about 9:30 at night.

It's a recent phenomenon, but our four-month-old son will not sleep. He'll fall asleep on my wife, she'll put him in his crib, and 20 minutes later he's crying. She'll go back in to his room, rock him back to sleep, put him in his crib, and 20 minutes later he's crying. Repeat. All. Night. Long.

Occasionally, usually around 3 a.m., it's my turn to try, but I've had worse luck. He'll just cry on me. Apparently I'm not as comfortable as my wife. I also don't come bearing food, which may have a lot to do with it.

This is the point in this post were I need to thank my wife and shower her with diamonds, Oreo cookies, and pedicures. As you can see, she has taken most (99%) of this burden on herself. I have not asked her to, but she's the one that gets up with our son. Part of it may be because I could sleep through a freight train barreling through our house (side effect of sleeping next to a very active military flight line while deployed) and I just don't hear him. But the reason is more likely because my wife is a saint. She wants me to be able to go to work refreshed.

This sacrifice on her part wasn't too bad when Timothy would sleep for long stretches (we were close to all night a couple of times), but now it's taking a toll. Getting two hours of sleep a night is not good for anyone. We may have to go to bottles at night or something because I want my wife to be able to get the sleep she needs. I really feel bad, and I want to take on some of this burden.

I'll wrap this post up with a few theories as to why he doesn't sleep any more:

• A growth spurt
• He's afraid of the dark
• He wants to stay up for Letterman
• His stinky feet keep him awake (more on this in a future post)
• Separation anxiety
• Poor nursery feng shui is throwing him off
• Bad gas
• He's four months old

I'm open to any theories you all have. You can leave them in the comments below. And if you could say a prayer for my saint of a wife, I would appreciate that even more.

Sleepy time

If I had to rank which dad jobs are my favorite, near the top of my list would be nighttime reader/tucker-inner.

As Timothy gets older, I'm sure he'll be a part of my nightly routine, but right now it's a wonderful bonding time with my daughter. She loves her sleep, but she also loves the build up to when she gets to close her eyes.

Once she's in her pajamas we sit in the chair in her room. After snuggling in with me, she clutches on to her favorite blanket with one hand, grabs an end with another, and sticks her thumb in her mouth. (And, yes, I know thumb sucking is bad, it'll make her teeth crooked, blah, blah, blah. We all have our vices, we go easy on her on this one.) I ask her what book she wants to read, which begins the process of deciphering what she wants. There's a code:

"Mooooon" - Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown
"Aaa Bee Cee's" - Max's ABC's by Rosemary Wells
"Much" - Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney
"Manger" - An illustrated board book of Away in the Manger
"Pookie" - Night, Night Little Pookie by Sandra Boynton
"Time" - Pajama Time! by Sandra Boynton
"Mickey" - On the Go with Mickey Mouse by Disney
"Boom" - Mr. Brown's Book of Wonderful Noises by Dr. Seuss

Thankfully, I've mastered the code. It took me awhile, but after trial and error and her improving speech, I can tell what she wants. Heaven forbid you pull the wrong book out of the basket. There's no fooling Grace. If she says "Much" and I pull out "Moon," she will shove the garbage that is "Moon" away and repeat "Much, much, much, much, much" until she gets to hear the tale of Big Nutbrown Hare and Little Nutbrown Hare.  Once I'm finished, she'll say "one mooore," while holding up a finger. That one usually is "Moon." How quickly she forgets.

But we don't just read two books, Daddy's nighttime routine includes THREE classic tales. Recently, number three has been "Mickey."

But no matter the book, the cutest thing about reading to her is that she knows the stories by heart. If I leave the last word off a sentence, she'll finish it. Doesn't matter what book or what sentence. She'll make all the noises along with Dr. Seuss's Mr. Brown. It's fun to watch.

After books, comes night-night kisses where she insists on pointing out, naming, and kissing my nose, eyes, hair, ears, mouth, and mole (I know that last one is weird, and I'm not sure why she picked up on it). Then it's "one for the money, two for the show, three to get ready, and four to go!" as I swing her into her crib. I hand her her stuffed bear, and cover her with her blanket. I give her one final peck on the forehead and say "Night nights Grace. Sleep tight. I love you."

As I walk away, turn out the light and start closing the door, I'll usually hear back "Night nights Daddy. Vuvv ooh." And that makes my day.