… and I’m sound asleep.
“Joey? The dog.”
I hate this. But I don’t fight it. My wife needs her sleep. And I can usually fall right back to sleep.
The dog bolts out the front door. I wait.
Nothing.
“Brooklyn!” “Brook!”
Five minutes. Ten.
Finally the dog resurfaces. By now, I’ve complained about him on Twitter.
At this point, I’m kind of awake but decide to go upstairs.
“Dad?”
Ugh. It’s 7yo Lucas. He’s had another nightmare. He’s in his robe, standing in the hallway. I know there is no way he’s falling right back to sleep so I think if I go to bed with him maybe we have a chance.
But his bed doesn’t have the pillows I like (need?). And he doesn’t have heavy covers. And it’s a little cold.
“Come close to Dad. I’ll hold you,” making up somewhat for the missing “arm pillow” I require.
But in five minutes it’s clear. He’s too awake. He’s not going back to sleep.
“Let’s go downstairs for some cereal. And bring your book.”
It’s 3:59 now. We’ve had our cereal. He’s on the computer playing Plants vs. Zombies (don’t tell Beth) and I’m here typing this.
It’s not what I had planned for my pre-dawn Saturday morning. But here we are.
Can you relate?
:: Joe Hage is CEO and Founder of medical device marketing firm Medical Marcom ::
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Many of the great memories of my children growing up were very unplanned. Also many of the great memories they will retain of you come from nights like these.
Enjoy.
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Funny how it’s the 7 year-olds in the house that disrupt our sleep! My older kids will sleep through a tornado, but I still get my son crashing into my room in the wee hours at least once a week.
And we are on the same wavelength on NEEDING the pillows. As I got to my mid-30’s, I needed a memory foam pillow for my neck, a pillow between my knees AND an arm pillow. And the heavy covers.
Rock on. Or to quote Aerosmith, Dream on.
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I’m a four-pillow man, myself. One for head, one behind that (just in case), one for knees, one for arm. Heavier-than-required-given-the-temperature covers times two (since my wife throws her covers onto my side).
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Brooklyn??? Best dog name EVAH! 🙂
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My son is almost 7. I had to threaten him with having video games taken away if he got out of bed one more time last night. It was 11:30 or later. Problem is that he’s so dang adorable and I only have him overnight 2-3 nights a week. It’s tough, but he needs to sleep and so do I. He often jumps into bed with me in the middle of the night and I don’t even realize it until the morning. *sigh*
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No video games is the worst punishment possible for my kids!
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It’s where his Daddy’s from.