Impromptu slumber party

Sometimes our little guy, now around 2 1/2 years old, will go to sleep like a champ. Other days, however, it’s a more…ongoing process.

He talks to himself and his toys for a bit, sometimes stories, sometimes giggles, and other times, the details of his day. And there are times when he will then fall into a slumber, giving mommy and daddy a chance to get done some of the things they just couldn’t pull together during the rest of the evening with a toddler running all around the house.

The days that he does not sleep so easily usually come with a myriad of stalling tactics and diversions.

“Maaaaaaammmmmmaaaa! Daaaadddddaaaa!” we will hear calling out from his room, usually ten minutes after he’s been put to bed.

Sometimes it’s “Me go potty!” which leads to a trip to the bathroom, and long conversations on the bathroom floor as he sits on the potty wanting to talk about everything under the sun.

At other times, it’s a request for a drink of water.

Recently, there was even the “there’s a monster in there” tactic, leading to very long talks, with the lights turned on, to show that things in the room just look a little different in the dark.

One recent night, though, nothing was going to get this kid to sleep and when I went in to check on him, he insisted that I stay with him.

“Stay, dada, stay!” he said, holding out his hand in that ‘stop’ motion.

So, I grabbed an extra pillow off his rocking chair, laid it on the floor and told him I would stay with him for a little bit. Putting my head down on the pillow, I saw him, occasionally looking up a few times to make sure I was still there.

It worked. He stopped crying out, stopped being worried, and eventually fell right asleep.

But then, so did I.

When I opened my eyes, I realized my attempt to put my head down to comfort him and put me out cold, and as I snuck out of the room, the little guy now fast asleep, I went downstairs to find Meg typing away at her computer and asking me what I had been working on upstairs.

Apparently I had been up there for well over an hour – out cold, asleep on his floor.