So, a kid walks into the bathroom...

at 11:04 p.m. He's been asleep for two hours. Mother and father listen carefully, as there was a bit of a bump and a bang as the kid got out of bed and tumbled himself down the hall to his bathroom.

Then there was the sound of liquid. But the liquid didn't seem to be hitting water.

"That doesn't sound right," Mom says.

"No, no it doesn't," Dad agrees, getting up and taking his laptop with him (no lie).

There, at the end of the hall, with the lights on, is their son, eyes shut, hands on the counter, naked from the waist down, standing on his little step stool in front of the sink, peeing all over the floor.

The father says his name. The child's eyes flutter open. And dutifully, the son reaches forward and turns on the sink to wash his hands.

He wakes up a little more, but only enough to start taking off his slightly wet shirt. His mother helps, tucks him back into bed and cleans up the pee on the floor laughing the whole time.

Night Talker

MacTroll and X-man rode the tandem to the park last night. I walked Riley. Then as we were leaving I heard crazy loud music box music. 

"Ice cream man!" 

We met up with him at the corner of Buttercup and Prairie Rose. X-man got an Iron Man ice cream. MacTroll got a Chipwich. (I loved those things in college.)

In the middle of the night X-man woke up and ran into my room. "Mommy, please come sleep with me." 

So I slept in his room for a while. Only to have him wake me up talking in the middle of the night about how he didn't get a cookie last night. 

"You had an Iron Man Ice Cream, remember?" I answered, not knowing if it would actually get through.

"Oh yeah. But we won't get one for the dragon in my room, will we?"

"No. No ice cream for dragons."

"Okay then."

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ. 

From the Front Lines

It's 2:38 a.m. do you know if your child is writhing around in discomfort screaming and crying?

I do. I was on sleeping duty last night, so MacTroll has it tonight. But about 40 minutes ago, X-man woke up demanding ice for his leg (which doesn't work in the cast, but appeared to help him in the splint) and band-aids. My husband, wanting to help X-man go back to sleep, was running around the house like a mad man looking for band-aids -- hoping the symbolic gesture would make X-man happy.

But in reality, besides administering his Motrin and trying to get him to keep his cast propped up (which he won't allow) there's not much we can do for him. He's a stomach sleeper, which is a position that is pretty much impossible. So he just keeps turning around in bed, whimpering, crying, demanding ice, trying to cover himself in soft blankets and generally freaking out.

I was in the room for a while, but I served no purpose. He's not in a place where he can listen or be reasoned with, and he's getting old enough to realize that mommy's hugs and kisses don't appear to make all pain go away. He's mad with fatigue. Night is day. Day is night. Now I'm in my room listening, and I know there's no way I can get to sleep with him crying out like this. I'd trade places with him in a second, if I could. 

Night-time discoveries

X-man has been off and on going to bed at night in our bed and then getting transferred to his when he is asleep. He thinks there are monsters in his room and no amount of reassuring, sign posting or creative monster removal seems to make him think differently about that. 

Apparently, MacTroll is the only one who can keep him safe until he falls asleep. Then at 4 a.m. he wakes up for some reason and comes running into our room to lie with us for another three hours. 

This is okay -- except when MacTroll ain't around. For the last two nights, I just didn't mess with transporting him and let him sleep in our bed. And for two nights he has been talking in his sleep around 3:30-4 a.m.

"Mommy! Come back! Mommy! Don't go."

He wakes up just enough to hear me saying, "I'm right here. It's okay." And then he lunges for me, falls asleep on my chest and in the morning he has no memory.

What if this is a repetitive thought that wakes my kid up every morning at the same time? And really, the only time he's away from me is the six hours he's at school... So, really, why is he afraid I'm walking away? 

Mmmm. 

This Little Light of X-man's

Last night as we drove home, X-man fell asleep at 8 p.m. in the car. As such, MacTroll and I let the dog out, fed the cats dinner, dimmed all the lights and then I got an overnight diaper ready while MacTroll carried X-man to his room. 

He slept all the way upstairs. He slept through the diaper change. He slept through me putting some PJ bottoms on him. We kissed him goodnight and then we went to our room.

It was 8:15 p.m. We watched some TV and then we went to bed. Around 3 a.m., X-man's witching hour, he woke up. He ran into our room, and MacTroll moved over and let him climb into bed. And then at 4 a.m., our cat knocked over MacTroll's water glass on his night stand. Computers and phones were far away, so it was no big deal. But it woke me up with a start, which woke X-man up, which woke MacTroll up, so he could clean up the mess.

Then I realized that X-man's diaper was leaking a bit. So I went to go get him a new one. The hall light was on. When I opened his bedroom door, it was like walking into daytime. Every light in his room was on. Before he came to our room he ran around turning on all the lights.

And he does this all the time, even in the day time. He does it at other people's houses too. More lights, more lights... 

He must have some kind of investment in the electric company.

Out of Control

Last night X-man had a night terror. He was screaming my name, but when I got to him he couldn't recognize that I was there. He just kept reaching out for me and grabbing for me as if I wasn't holding him. 

I tried to comfort him, but he was wild and disoriented and panicked. MacTroll tried to help, but whenever he touched X-man, X-man freaked out and would flail against him screaming, "Mommy!"

After several very long and scary minutes X-man fell asleep on top of me. I slipped out from beneath him and went to the guest room so he could sleep with MacTroll. It was simply too hot to have him on top of me all night. 

This morning, he's sleeping in a little late (after a 6:45 a.m. rising time yesterday). They say he won't remember, but we will. 

In response to the craziness, Riley wanted MacTroll to let him out four times last night. I guess he felt like he was on guard since we were worn out.

Ahhh, so this is why he doesn't sleep with us

X-man wandered into my room last night a bit past midnight. Usually when this happens I let him lie down with me until he's just about asleep and then I put him back in his bed. But last night I was too tired and he was too stubborn.

So he spent the night with me in the middle of the bed being a bed hog (much like his father). 

But the beauty is how I was woken up this morning.

SLAP! (Yes, across my face.) 

"UP MAMA UP!"

The Late, Late Show

Normally getting up at 1:45 a.m. with your child is not a lot of fun. Usually it indicates that there's some mess of bodily fluids (or non-fluids) to pick up. Plus, if MacTroll were home, I probably wouldn't have gone to bed until 11:30 p.m., which makes late night duty much more annoying. But on a night where my head hit the pillow at 9 p.m., I was much more rested for the near 2 a.m. bedtime comforting.

Tonight was the best kind of late night party. I could hear the X-man talking in his bed. Not sleepy babbling, but talking. I got up and went to check on him. He saw me and flew into my arms. I carried him to the diaper changer and exchanged his heavy diaper for a clean one. When we were done, I picked him up. 

As we were walking back to his toddler bed, he protested. He didn't want to go back to bed. We sat on his window bench and cuddled and rocked for 15 minutes. His head resting on my chest on the soft, fluffy fabric of my robe. His hair still smelled of clean, mild shampoo from bath time shenanigans at 7 p.m. 

We said nothing, until I whispered that I loved him, and he reached up and gave me a full on hug, with his little head resting on my shoulder. Then his breathing slowed to a calm sleepiness. I put him in his bed with his blankie. He curled into it and drifted back into sleep.

Sometimes this parenting thing is just so tremendously wonderful, I have to stay up and write a little snippet before I head back to bed.