dismissed from nighttime duty
July 12th, 2012
E fell asleep cuddling with Gramaw one night in Hawaii
It’s the middle of the night. I was awakened a few minutes ago by the sound of Elliora calling, “Mama, Maaaamaaaa…” on the monitor, so I walked down the hall to her room to check on her. (She doesn’t wake up every night anymore—probably more like every other night, maybe every third night.)
I changed her diaper, as we usually do when she wakes up at night, just because. As I changed her, she was whining and fussing, asking to “murssh” the whole time. I told her it wasn’t time for nursing, it was time to sleep, and finished changing her diaper. I gave her some medicine (she’s recovering from a virus and teething at the same time), cuddled her for a minute and sang to her, then set her down in bed where she rolled immediately onto her stomach and tucked her knees up under her.
I reached down to untangle her blanket, and she started to make a fuss. But before I could mentally weigh the options of staying in her room to coax her to sleep or leaving her to wind down to sleep on her own, I realized she was saying, “Cover up! Cover up!”
I quickly pulled the blanket up over her shoulders. I patted her on the back a few times, and then she dragged one arm out from under the blanket. I thought she was going to push the blanket off or protest my leaving, so what happened next was unexpected and hilarious.
Without turning over or even looking at me, she waved her hand in my direction and said, “Bye-bye.”
I blinked, said, “Okay then, good night! I love you!” and went back to bed, where I realized I needed to write this down so I didn’t forget it by morning.
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haha, that’s outstanding! Precious little girl. I was actually thinking about you guys earlier today, and thinking how much she’s grown! Wow, time flies! :)
The first of many of those “bye-byes” that make you both wistful and proud.
Awww what a cutie!
Oh, Elliora. You crack me up, girlie!
Love it! And what a beautiful photo.
I can’t stop smiling at this.
That is so rad. In the wake of Preston sleeping through the night last night (!!!!!), I can now be happy for people whose babies sleep. (Although, I most likely could have been happy for you before, too. I’M NICE LIKE THAT.)
Hooray for sleeping!!!
I would take that cue and run with it. I also like how polite she was with the dismissal.
Oh that’s awesome! From one Mommy of a bad sleeper to another–congratulations : ) Maybe she can come have a chat with my Nora!
She is too cute. And the total opposite of Nathan. If he wakes up, he cries and cries. If Alan goes in he says, “I don’t want you! I don’t want you!!!” He settles down when I lay next to him. That is why I am sooooo shocked he slept through the whole night without a problem when we were with Brenda.