When we were down at Pawley’s, there was a moment in which I stood with a group of moms on vacation. We were discussing sleeping habits of our youngsters. In the midst of this conversation, Isaac stepped in amongst us, poked his little finger in the air and declared, “I’m a non-sleeper!”
It’s sort of true. His babyhood sleeping patterns were appalling. I chalk this up to the fact that he came home from the hospital weighing 5 1/2 pounds, with a stomach the size of a walnut, and with this little defect of the tongue that made it hard for him to nurse or even drink from a bottle effectively. We had to feed him with a tube for the first month or so, for instance. And feed him often, sometimes even hourly, along the lines of a baby bird. (These are among the many reasons I hope and pray for a big fat robust baby this time.) But in addition to his size and to the long, hard, ounce by ounce struggle to get him big enough to hold enough to sleep enough, there was the temperament factor.
He’s a rather high strung, high energy person, just like his father. I’ve heard from Ben’s mother that Ben as a child never slept. She said that he would drive her crazy with the non-sleeping, mentioning also that it went on until he was a teenager. I listened to this report with a sinking heart, and then realized that Ben left for boarding school when he was 14. Meaning… that his departure from the house was most likely how the problem was “cured.”
But all that being said, Isaac is really improving. He seems to have a pattern of four or five good nights in a row, going to sleep around 9 or 10 p.m. and waking up around 6 or 7. No naps anymore, as naps of any sort seem to make the night sleeping a lot worse (but it does make for a hell of a long day for me…). However last night was one of those odd bad nights that come along one a week or sometimes twice. He had a busy day yesterday, with a series of people coming along to take care of him to spell me. Ben and I had a date planned in the evening, too, at which point Isaac hit the skids. He screamed and cried as we departed, and then in the course of being comforted, nestled in to the babysitter’s chest and fell asleep– at 7:30 or so, without having eaten anything.
So… 1:30 a.m. rolled around. …
I think you can envision what happened. Isaac woke up, starving, ready for breakfast.
Also I should add that he just got a suit of armor yesterday. It was a special new toy as a part of our new anti-violence campaign in the house. Basically if he can make it through a third of the day (we divide by meals) without kicking, hitting, or throwing in anger, he gets a sticker. When he has accumulated five stickers, he gets a new toy ($10 limit). Basically I can say that after two weeks of this, it’s working way better than all the time-outs in the world. He’s REALLY trying as hard as possible to contain his anger and more often than not is able to do so successfully. Anyway, so yesterday afternoon we went to the toy store. After reviewing everything in the entire store, he settled on this set that includes a plastic breast plate, with dragon, a helmet with moving visor, a sword with scabbard, and a shield also with dragon. We spent the afternoon with me rather exhausted on the couch while he stood around in his armor, sword at the ready. He’s trying to work with the fact that I need to rest all the time, and allowed me to participate by pretending that I was a dragon and the couch was my dragon’s keep.
So… in the middle of the night I stumbled downstairs to get him something to eat. (How could I leave an honestly hungry child to cry until dawn??) Then, we both discovered his armor in the dining room. He begged and pleaded to wear it while he ate his snack, insisting that he wouldn’t PLAY at all. Just WEAR it. Groggily I agreed, thinking– what do I care what you’re wearing at this hour? I got him a sandwich and he sat and ate it awkwardly, sword held in one hand and shield on the other arm, visor getting in the way of his mouth all the time.
Then, since we were all up and about, the dog Lena also woke up and began to bark to go out for a pee. What next? I thought. But I would rather stumble out into the yard with her than clean up a puddle in the morning. So out I stumbled, and of course the little knight in armor tottered along with me. I stood chaperoning Lena (she can’t pee on what little lawn we have because it burns it and so needs to be guided to her designated non-lawn spot), and Isaac looked up. “I see the first star in the universe!” he said excitedly. “I see the big dipper… see…? There’s the handle and there’s the cup part… and there’s Orion the Hunter!”
Groan.
I’m sure we made a fine picture out there in the darkness… me in my ridiculous maternity pajamas, little Sir Isaac pointing to the sky with his sword.
It took until about 4 a.m. to get him to sleep again, and since then the day has been completely topsy turvy. We’ve slept a few chunks but unsatisfyingly so. I should add that it’s only 11:00 a.m. now.
Sure seems a lot later than that.