So Busted

Turbo and Smiley each require different methods for falling asleep at night.

Smiley is tired at 6 PM, and so when I bring her, all jammied-up, to their room at night, she all but dives into her crib and snuggles in for a long night of, usually, uninterrupted sleep. I barely get to snuggle with her. (A-hem, except for last night, when I gave up trying to get her back to sleep and brought her into our bed around 11:30 PM).

Turbo, on the other hand, has always wanted to sleep next to me. I guess I should be flattered, and I've mostly loved it. He gets into bed around 8:30 PM, and while we've had some success off and on for him to fall asleep on his own, it really seems to work better if one of us in snuggled in his bed with him.

Turbo is 3 years old now. It took a very, very, very, very long time for this kid to sleep on his own through the night. And it took an even longer time (forever +1?) for him to be able to fall asleep quickly.

But we're there. And I'm grateful.

I think I've mentioned it before that I sometimes tell little fibs to Turbo, finding an excuse to exit his warm, snuggly bed before he's completely asleep, and then he graciously falls asleep on his own without my help. I love those nights, as I am able to leave his room before I get all bleary-eyed myself and can't do anything for my "me time" except to fall face first into my own bed.

Last week, I thought I'd pulled it off again. Not so fast, mom. Here is the replay:

[in Turbo's bed]
Me: "I forgot to brush my teeth. I'll be right back."

Turbo: "And then you'll come and sleep in my bed?"

Me: "Uh-huh." And I exit, feeling confident and sure of myself.

Ten minutes later, I'm in front of my computer, browsing Facebook or window-shopping online, when I catch a glimpse of Turbo out of the corner of my eye, coming at me, rubbing his eyes.

"Mom, it's wake up time?"

Erm, um, quickly scramble for an excuse and get back into bed with him.