Every parent has stuff they bitch about when it comes to their particular child-raising situation. Maybe your kid only eats white foods, or refuses to take baths, or only likes death-metal lullabies. The kids, they’re quirky, and they’re all pre-loaded with sucky habits for parents to fixate on. At the same time, though, most of us are lucky enough to have at least a few things that our kids are really good about. Things we can’t bitch about, or other parents will kill us. Like, maybe your kid knew how to nurse like a champ right from the womb. Or maybe you were in labor for only three hours. Or your kid learned how to read at the tender age of three. For us, at least since the Hatchling has been about 6 months old, the good thing has been sleep. From birth to 6 months, don’t even get me started, because OY. But since around the 6 month mark, she’s pretty much been a champion sleeper. 11-12 hours every night, 2-3 good solid naps during the day, everybody relatively well-rested as a result. Sure, she might have a rough night here and there when she’s sick or sleeping in a strange place, but she’s good about 95% of the time. I realize how lucky we are in this regard. I know several parents who would give critical body parts to science if their kids would sleep as well as the Hatchling does on a regular basis. And I’m not smug about it – we just got lucky in the parenting lottery on this one, and the most we can take credit for is facilitating the sleep by, you know, changing the crib sheets occasionally and making sure the heat is on in the winter.
So I get that I don’t really have any leeway to bitch about this, but I gotta say: it’s been a little rough the past couple of weeks. Last week it was clearly illness-related: a double ear infection on top of croup would make it tough for anyone to sleep well. But the ear-infection is supposed to be gone now, and the croup is definitely over, and yet the Hatchling still woke up 3-4 times last night, two of which were bad enough that we had to get up with her and calm her down and put her back to bed. Like, at 2:30 in the morning. And then again at 5:00. And again, I know there are lots of parents for whom this is a fairly normal occurence, and to these parents I say: you are better people than I am. Because a few nights like this after close to a YEAR of good sleeping and I am getting pretty strung out. Is it her molars? The legendary 18-month sleep regression? Pure cussedness? I don’t know, but I sure am glad we’re going to the doctor this week because, let’s be honest here, I am a total pussy when it comes to sleep. And I NEED SOME.
