When Kids Climb in Bed with You at Night

This is a continuation of the evolution of Gracie’s sleep after she bit her tongue and couldn’t comfort herself to sleep by sucking her fingers. Though I managed to get Gracie back into her own bed, she still had some apprehension. I don’t know how I did it, but I won the battle to keep the light off, yet she insisted the door stay open with the hall light blaring into her room. So I obliged.

Then the requests came…”Check on me two times mom.”

“Sure, thing sweetie.” So after a while I’d check on her once and give her a little kiss. “One more time to go,” she’d say.

Then it progressed to “Check on my three times.”

“Sure.” And I checked on her a couple of times and sometimes waited until she fell asleep before I checked on her for the third time.

Some nights bedtime went smoothly, other times she’d crawl out of bed several times to remind me to check on her. Then she upped the anti.

“Check on me four times.”

“No, Grace. Two time.”

“Okay, fine! Three times!”

My four-year-old had become a haggler. (Next time I go to a garage sale I’ll have to remember to take her along.)

So, I agreed. “I’ll check on you three times.”

When I have the energy, going all the way upstairs to check on my sleeping beauty is fun. I love her little smile and kisses and when she says “Two more times to go.” It’s so precious how she longs for me.

On days when I’m too tired, I don’t always check on her until after she’s asleep. But even then I give her a tender kiss and tell her how much I love her.

Has she been cured of her night time wanderings? No. She still winds up in our bed even though we have the “only during a thunderstorm” rule. Usually she crawls on my full bladderI hear her come in and climb in our bed in the middle of the night, other times I secretly wish she would. Last night I woke up to start the day and there she was. Right smack in the middle of my bed. I didn’t even hear her come in.

And these are the times I treasure and hold dear to my heart because one day I know she’ll be too big to crawl in bed with me!