Sleepy Bones

Gabriel was a great sleeper early in life.  While other parents from our prenatal class were quick to cite the sleep they had lost due to feedings and random dark AM crying, we were doing our best not to be conspicuously quiet during those laments.  We'd nod vigorously and add a well-timed, "I hear you," to avoid boasting and express our relief to one another when we were alone.

Those salad days have been long gone and apparently, according to The Walrus we are not alone. We now wake regularly to a cry of some sort from Gabriel as something disturbs his sleep.  There are occasions when he - despite our interventions - rolls out of bed with only a thud (and no howl or cry whatsoever), the soft patter of his bare feet wakes us as he comes down the hall or we stir at 4am to find his form wedged between us and eking out more space.  A recent conversation was something like this:

Nadine: Stop kicking!
Gabriel: I'm stretching.

Whereupon Gabriel is escorted back to his room and slept with until he is asleep again.  Often, Nadine or I fall asleep first and stir an hour or so later and return to our bed.  We have tried to implement a bit more of a routine and get him to stay in bed - quietly - when he wakes up rather than come to our bed or call out to us.  Nadine has come across a plan where she cues Gabriel to be in bed when the 7 is up on his digital clock and stay there until it reappears.  It has worked relatively well in the evenings but asking him to lie still and stare at the clock until the hour turns from 6 or 5 into 7.  As I type, it is 6:39am. He is just stirring now and heading to bed with Nadine.  A decent achievement, but still not enough sleep. We know that this will end eventually, when he is in his teens and the lethargy of growth sucks out all desire to move.

In the meantime though, there is the challenge of getting him to sleep through the night or cope with his interruptions on his own.  There hasn't been much luck.  Last night over dinner we talked to him about staying in bed and staying quiet until 7am, but he replied that he wanted someone to sleep with. Nadine reminded him of the retinue of stuffed animals that he shares his bed with each night and even suggested a rotation if there were new favorites that he preferred amongst, Sully, puppy, Thumper, and everyone else.

He replied, "I want to sleep with someone who has bones inside."