2:30 smiles

I've procrastinated writing about this because I wanted to wait until the ordeal was over and I could talk about it in a more positive light. However, last night was too memorable to pass up recording it.

Here's the background drama. A few weeks ago Mason started sleeping badly. We thought perhaps it was more teeth, or the effects of potty training, or just the lack of fresh air and sunshine. Then it got worse. Within a week it was like he completely lost the ability to sleep, day or night. He's skip his naps, take two hours to go to sleep at night, wake every hour or so, and then be up for the day by 6:30am.

It's been really rough. Usually Jason would get him back to bed for all the awakenings before midnight or one. Then I'd take over during the night (Jason just doesn't hear him and he needs his sleep so he can deal with work). I'd try to get Mason to watch a movie or something when he got up at 6:30 while I dozed on the couch. Then I'd wake up Jason around 8:30 and I'd go take a nap until Jason left for work. Yes, that's right, a nap at 8:30am. Pure bliss.

We're all a bit groggy and cranky. It's just too little sleep for too long. We've been trying everything we can think of to get Mason to sleep better. It's exhausting but I think we're finally on the right track. Now he's sleeping for a few hours at a time and getting up between 1-3 times a night instead of 10.

So last night I heard him get up. Part of our strategy is to get him right back into bed without delay. So I jumped up and met him in the hallway. Like usual I quietly grabbed his hand and headed to his room. Unlike usual he didn't follow me and go back to sleep. Last night he started waving and said "Hi! Hi mom!" and tried to engage me. He kept saying he needed to go to the bathroom so I finally took him even though he sleeps in diapers. While he sat there he chatted on and on about something I couldn't understand. Every time he thought I wasn't paying attention he would bend his face under mine and wave and say "Hi Mom!". He was so alert and so charming I couldn't help but smile. He went back to bed really well and even slept in until 7 this morning. So maybe we're getting close to the end of this sleeping fiasco... but until then I'm glad we can still find little things to smile about.