Last night my middle guy screams out for me and I am pulled away from my warm bed and wonderful slumber. This has become normal this past year. No, I don't have newborn. I have a dramatic 3 year old. That in itself is an entirely different blog for another day. I know there are other issues besides his dramatic nature contributing to the waking up screaming but back to last night's adventures in crazed mommy-land.
He starts the screaming. I wait for him to make his journey up the stairs to my bed. This has become routine but last night something was different. He doesn't come upstairs instead he stands in the living room screaming. Now, I know I should be mostly worried but the screaming at night has become so normal and the fact that I have two other sleeping boys in the house promptly puts me in prayer mode, "please don't let the 18 month old up wake up". He is not a sound sleeper like his 5 year old brother. The last thing I wanted was two screaming kids in the middle of the night...maybe even three! I knew I shouldn't have watched an episode of Homeland late last night...should have just gone to bed!
Once my quick prayer his over, I go downstairs and wisp him up and take him to my bed. Prayer is answered (thank you, God) and the other two sleeping boys do not wake up. Now, this is where it just goes to hell. He is absolutely inconsolable and borderline seizure-like. This is not normal. It is usually a cry out in the night then he finds his way to our bed and maybe a few little cries while in our bed through the night (we are thinking bad dreams are the issue). I start to panic a little. Then I start to get frustrated and mad because he is clearly ok. In between seizure-like body movements and the worst screaming I have heard, he is pointing to his lower half of his body and is saying "I hurt". Calmly and matter-of-factly. Hmmm, is he milking this night time behavior? Are we snowballing fast into bad sleep habits?
I start to get firm with him. "Use words!" and "Stop crying!" are pouring out of my mouth without control. "Tell me what is wrong so I can help!". Then the mommy guilt sets in. That pesky feeling when nothing is working and you start second guessing everything. I tried hugging and consoling, being firm to try and stop the madness and then right when the desperation is peaking...he stops the crying and shaking. Did I mention he can flip between emotions like a light switch? He points to his big toe and says, "hurts!". I examine his big toe and there is a blister. Ding ding ding! We got a winner.
A kiss and a band-aid and he is back to sleep in minutes. I think he must really like visiting crazed mommy-land because he is fully capable of saying his toe hurt from the beginning. This kid! He can take so much from you emotionally and put you right at your breaking point but then one sweet look and "mommy, I want to hug you!" turns it around. Maybe one day he will be a famous stage performer. At the very least he keeps crazed mommy-land at 2am open for business!
Here are my confessions: I was mad he woke me up like he does almost every night. I like him coming up to sleep in the bed with me especially when daddy is traveling. I had no clue what to do last night.
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