nightmare
paul does not really have night terrors. he is a night terror... well, at least he's been one since he hit the road to recovery.
the last few nights we have had the most awful middle of the night experiences. awful like shoot-me-if-i-ever-get-pregnant-again awful. sure, by the time i get to work, all's cool and i miss my little wiggly armful of toddler yet again, but that doesn't negate the sheer hideousness of the night, though.
he's been taking forever to go down. he keeps insisting he's hungry because he knows it will buy him time, he knows we can't refuse him food after those days of eating practically nothing other than otter pops. he wants the "light on," he wants to "read book," he wants to "play train," he wants to look in the "fridge. fridge!" and he wants his bottles again. so much for weaning.
once he does go to sleep, the drama isn't over. the sleep is merely an intermission. give him an hour or so and the shrieks begin. you pat his back, he cries. you pick him up, he thrashes. he wants to "wake up," he wants to "watch tv," he wants to lie down on "our bed," he wants you to move to "own bed," he wants to do anything other than go back to sleep. last night between one and three am, i think i was roused at least six or seven times. eventually he peed on me. unpleasant. i hate leaky diapers. i asked paul if he wanted to be changed right there or on the changing table. he opted for the table and off we went. cam, of course, left a diaper on top of the diaper genie, so i had to deal wih that before i could strip and change paul. then he complained of cold, so i picked up the freshly diapered boy, grabbed a new footed sleeper and took him back to our nice warm room. once we got there, he wouldn't let me dress him. of course. so he went back to sleep wrapped in a blanket. "naked," he said happily. he slept decently then until about almost five. shit, if it all it takes for him to sleep is nudity, well, i'll throw out all his footies. maybe it's worth a shot!
i am hoping against hope that tonight won't be like last night or the night before. being sick really threw the boy off his schedule, the poor thing. i'm not unsympathetic to the fact that he's not completely comfortable yet -- he's still a little congested and still feels a little off. i know this. but i'm also not unsympathetic to the fact that cam and i too are still a little sick and that we need our sleep so that we can function at work. if i could play all day and take lengthy naps, i'd stay up all night, too.
grr. i feel guilty for even complaining, so i'm going to shut up about this right now.