Saturday, November 15, 2008

nothing but a dreamer...

There's a new happening in the life of our little spud this week. Not that I've had anything to do with it mind you, I was handily out of town when the frog initiated the Big Change.

Recently, as some of you may know, we've been having Difficult Nights in which our son refuses to go to sleep. They've been getting worse and worse recently with him spending hours shouting and crying and begging to be taken out of his cot, usually ending with us taking him to our bed to fall asleep.

Anyway, so while I was safely tucked away on another continent, the frog took the initiative and transformed the spud's cot into a bed - and our son into a happy sleeper, just like that.

It's amazing. You have no idea how thrilled the spud is with his new bed - we have to sit on it, put the trains on it, pretend to sleep in it, jump in it, sing in it, eat breakfast in it... it's bed central. Today we went to Ikea and bought him a baby duvet and he basically spent the entire rest of the afternoon pretending to sleep under it.

It has, however, introduced a very strange vibe to the flat and I'm not entirely sure how to put it into words. Imagine this, then. You're asleep in your bed. It's dark. Some little quiet sound has woken you up. A sound you've not heard before. You sit up and your heart lurches to a stop as, caught in a beam of moonlight, a silent figure glides to the end of your bed and... touches you!!!

EEeeek!

I know, I had to take a moment to get my heart down past my epiglottis. It was, as you have no doubt guessed, only the spud coming to lauch himself at me. I however was completely unprepared. This evening it happened again. Normally, after we put him into bed, we give him a half a bottle of milk, warmed over to put him out. After he's downed it he shouts for me to get the bottle and then he falls asleep. Tonight, I had given him the good stuff and was pottering about waiting for him to shout when a little elfin figure padded into the livingroom, handed me his bottle and hot-footed it back into his bedroom before words could be spoken.

I'm not sure what I love about this the most - the lack of shouting; the new grown-up sleeping or, that he is stubborn enough to make his point even in the teeth of bedtime: he will get out of bed when he damn well pleases - but he will also get back in without having to be told. Either way, I am preparing myself for unexpected evening sightings and waiting for the inevitable day when we wake up to find him sitting in the middle of the kitchen eating butter with a spoon.

.

13 comments:

cactus petunia said...

Congratulations on the milestone! Before you know it he'll be getting his own breakfast and making you coffee.

Also, thought of you today while reading the NY Times...check out this article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/13/garden/13birth.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&ref=garden

Cheers!

Anonymous said...

Ha ha! Congrats on the easy transition! More than I can say of ours at least. Isn't the big boy bed just grand? And a little sad too? Sniff.

Anonymous said...

Oh, and very clever being on another continent. I'll have to remember that for our next hurdle!

Unknown said...

That is just brilliant!
I've had those face in the night moments.
My son used to just stand there watching me about 4 inches from my face before saying in a slightly menacing tone (well is sounded menacing to me!) "hello mummy".
I nearly had heart failure.

KJ said...

Wow. That's very cute. The only thing that happens around here when I leave is a lot of mess and very little progress. You're lucky!

I just gave you an award: http://tinyurl.com/628m6v

Anonymous said...

Yeah for a big milestone and for a good night's sleep! Our house is a maze of gates thanks to nighttime wandering, and poor hubby has been woken up more than once by a toddler nose standing less than an inch from his! Cooper has also, on more than occasion, taking it upon himself to go down to the kitchen and help himself to a snack - the butter was saved because he couldn't get the lid off!

Sparx said...

Cactus! And that's pretty much the same birth pool I had as well... but I didn't throw up. They make it sound so brutal!!

Jennie - I know, it's just so cute and grown up...

Tara... I might wet myself if he did that. Well, partly because he doesn't say 'hello Mummy' yet!

Kat - I'm totally blushing... have you really been lurking so long? thanks, will try to pass it on soon!

Fishsticks and fireflies - ah, I'm sure it's going to happen to us, our flat is all on one floor so no big deal for him to get to the fridge!

Jen said...

The mental image of him sitting in your kitchen eating butter with a spoon when the lights came on - hilarious! I am a total chicken, and not ready to give up the crib, and sleeping through the night, just yet.

Helen + ilana = Hi said...

Just so you know this means he can now choose when he will be sharing your bed. And trust me he will unerringly pick the most inopportune moment to arrive at least once. Possible more often if your 'reaction' is really funny!
And that is a factism which is today's very apt word verification!

DJ Kirkby said...

N3S only stopped sleeping with me once he had his won bed too...if I'd known that would work he would have been out of his crib and into a bed at 1 month old! However, it hasn't stopped him shouting...

Lisa @ Boondock Ramblings said...

I'm really hoping that this will happen when we move Jonathan's bed into his room and get it all set up for him. I'm sure I'm just dreaming and it wont' work out, but a girl can hope, right?

Michelle said...

Too cute, Sparx!

Anonymous said...

I'm not quite sure, but I think the idea of your son pretending to sleep under his duvet is my favourite image of the day.