I’m thankful for a lot of things, but I thought I’d share some of the stuff I’m sort of back-handedly thankful for this week. Maybe there will be some genuine sentiment the closer we get to Thanksgiving. For now, however, I’m thankful that I function during the day despite having a night of sleep that looks like this:
I radiate warmth, so I think my kids are drawn to me as a sort of hairy space heater. My wife sucks heat out of living beings to compensate for her constant chill (her feet never get warm!), plus she doesn’t tolerate children in her immediate sleeping space—apart from the baby. Usually. She’ll kick them out, so they’ve learned to come straight to me.
I’ll try, half-heartedly, to keep them out of our bed. If I’m awake enough, I’ll get up to shepherd one or the other girl back into their room as soon as I hear the telltale squeak of their door handle turning. I’ve thought about WD-40’ing it, but I’ve decided I like the warning it gives.
Sometimes my interception works and I can 180 the kid back into the room with the nightlight and the other nightlight and the white noise machine set to “ocean,” but more often than not, my daughter—whichever one is awake and wanting to be with me—will start getting upset. This can lead to a startled-awake baby and tears all around, so I relent pretty easily. Plus, I’m frequently more than half asleep, stumbling around, making sure I’ve got at least boxers on, so I’m not totally sure what I’m doing or agreeing to anyway.
Still …
Standing in the Shallows 
I like this. A lot. Especially 5.15 am. 🙂
Adaptability. It’s what makes parenthood possible.
Hilarious. Love the drawings.
I remember these days. And I remember that I’m glad they’re (mostly) behind us!
We barely manage sleep with just one three-year-old. I feel for you. Just when we think we’re on top of it, my daughter wakes up four times between 11:00 and 5:00 complaining about “hurty knees.” My wife never realized “growing pains” were real things, until our daughter, even though I told her I had them as a kid.
Oh the joys of parenthood … 😛
That’s brilliant.
I used to do that all the time!! Grant had a habit of climbing into bed with me early early in the morning and like you said, i wasn’t really up for a battle at that point so I’d just wait until he fell asleep (which took about 1 min) and then climb into his bed. =)
Great story by pictures! I love your quote “My wife sucks heat out of living beings”. That made me laugh. I remember nights like that very fondly. I get the cold feet thing. My wife and my youngest daughter suffer the same affliction. My youngest daughter found a solution that worked for her. She crawled into our bed and slept sideways; snuggled up with her mother while trying to stick her feet underneath me in search for a warm cozy spot.
Dude. You can’t go around blabbing trade secrets like this. You’re going to ruin it for the rest of us. 😉