4am is NOT morning!

We've had a bit of trouble as of late with the youngest daughter of our group...she has taken to our bed with a certain satisfaction that we can not seem to undo. She has never been a great sleeper, and is prone to waking up multiple times in a night. Usually, she wakes up and goes back to sleep shortly afterward--no intervention needed. Lately, however, she has decided that when she's up, so should we be (or at least one of us, she's not too picky!)

Last night, or early this morning, she decided that 4am was as good a time as any to start her day. So, as usual, I went in and settled her back down...gave her her baby, covered her up, and attempted to head back to my slumber. This was not in her plans apparently, and she protested. So, not wanting to wake up 4 other children at that time of day, I decided to lay in her tiny little toddler bed for a bit. This seemed to be an acceptable answer to her, and she proceeded to pull the cord on the music playing bear she stole from Connor's room and settle herself in. So there we laid, side by side...in this tiny little bed for a good 20 min. At which point, I had decided that she was ok and could drift off on her own while I went to a much more comfortable "grownup" bed. I made it into my bed, and got covered up before the screaming started! So, off to her room I went again...this time to give up and bring her to her happy place (in this case, between me and Sean in our bed).

I have come to the conclusion, that children revel in the thought of keeping their parents awake in the middle of the night. So much so in fact, that they have the innate ability to stay awake until JUST before your alarm clock goes off for the day. This is the point that they fall gracefully back asleep to finish of their much needed rest, while you are left with a day full of things that need to be done, and no time left for sleep. It always tears at my conscience too...do I let them sleep--looking so peaceful there in my bed? OOORRR...do I wake them up, and make them as miserable as I now am?? I obviously know that they latter is the wrong answer, but tell me you've never looked at a sleeping child and had that thought???

In this case, I gently pulled myself out of bed and let sleeping babes lie. I'm sure she'll have a wonderful day and somehow I'll pull my lazy butt thru and make it to the end...