Sleep, glorious sleep!

Last night I slept 9 hours - straight. The nine hours isn't that abnormal - it's the straight part. If you've been reading this blog, you may have noticed I have made a couple comments on my son's little habit of waking in the middle of the night, which usually requires a brief visit from me. I thought we had it solved last September with tucking him in tight, but that was fairly short-lived.

He'd been doing pretty well with only one visit per night from me, and then recently escalated it back to about 3 or 4. Wednesday night this week it was 5 times (and by the fifth I was muttering some choice words on my way to his room, which greatly amused Joe). Sometimes he needed his pillow rescued, sometimes a trip to the bathroom, sometimes he'd be saying something completely off the wall (which I think must have been from a dream he'd just had), and sometimes just wanted a kiss or hug. But, of course, these requests are all preceded by a fairly urgent sounding cry. You would think I would just ignore it by now. While all these things were solved quite quickly, they still required me to drag myself out of bed, into his room, and back - not all that restful of a night's sleep.

I have been contemplating buying a two-way monitor, in hopes that maybe just hearing my voice or getting some instructions from me would eliminate the need for me to go in there. However, the price tag has been keeping me from taking that step. (My mom is probably reading this thinking "Just turn off the monitor you have. Then you wouldn't hear him and you'd sleep just fine! He will survive. If he's really in trouble, you'll hear him."

Last night we went through the "when you wake up in the middle of the night, just go back to sleep" routine, but I added an extra incentive. "If you can go all night without crying for Mommy, I will give you a piece of candy in the morning."

Guess what time I heard him for the first time.

7:15 a.m.

I made a huge deal out of it, gave him his candy, and said "Sam - I am SO proud of you for not crying for me in the middle of the night. You slept all night in your bed all by yourself!"

His reply?

"Mom - I am so proud of you for not crying for me."

I think I deserve a piece of candy too.