What's the deal? I realize parents have sleeping issues with their kids, but we have bed issues with ours.
It started oh so long ago...when we first had The Princess. Some of you know she had night terrors (no, very different than nightmares.) They're genetic and I blame Mr. Right. Those lasted until about a year ago and about that time The Pirate started into them. He experienced them every night, often multiple times through out the night. Many of you have had the joy of hearing them.
So are we feeding our children too much FD&C Red Dye #40? Should yeast be eliminated from their systems? Chocolate? TV? WHAT?!
And because The Pirate pretty much looks like this during an episode
we stopped going into his room. Instead we let him wake up enough to come to us. It's better for our relationship I think.
Anyway, I must say he's gotten a lot better. We're down to one a night, around 11:30. Don't come over around then I suggest. He screams a while, looks like the above, morphs into himself, comes out, we give hugs and he's back to bed.
Only here's the thing, he doesn't really like his bed. Well, he does like to jump on it, and he likes his really awesome car sheets and pillow case. One time I watched him wake up. He was sleeping one second and the next he slowly opened his eyes and lifted his head and looked straight down at his pillow. Then he smiled and said, "Cars."
But he doesn't like to sleep on his bed.
Like most people he wakes during the night. He used to scream, but now he just quietly gets off the bed, takes his pillow and blanket, finds a place on the floor and goes back to sleep. Sometimes the desired floor spot is in his room. Sometimes it is by my side of the bed. Sometimes it is by Mr. Right's side of the bed. Sometimes it is in the hall. Sometimes it is at the head of the stairs. When we wake in the morning we never really know where we'll find him.
Is this one of those cute things kids do? Well, no. It's kind of weird I think. It's more like a cat thing. He has his favorite spots on the floor that he likes to sleep. I do recall my brother liked to sleep on the entry floyer wipe-your-feet-on-it rug. That's just disgusting.
Then we discovered The Pixie likes the floor too. But not just any floor. She likes the floor under beds.
The first time it happened I heard a thump at 3am and then crying very nearby. We sat up straight and started calling, "Pixie? Pixie?" We started looking around in the dark. It was very confusing because she was underneath us. Most parents probably don't look for their children under their bed. I guess maybe they do. We don't though.
It's happened other times too. Sometimes she crawls underneath and falls asleep. Sometimes she crawls underneath and starts giggling. I think this is weird too.
I say: children sleep in your beds. You're not Asian for crying out loud. I do not like hearing you cry out in the night and have to wander around searching in nooks and crannies. I do not like it. I do not like having to use the bathroom and tiptoeing through a child mine in the dark while I try to not wake up. I do not like when you bump your head against my nightstand, or the closet door, or the shoes your father left out and then listening to your cry.
This is silly.
Children go to bed and stay there.
I know I want to.