Kids

When it was time to go to bed last night Nora wasn't tired. After we read stories and turned out the light, I tried to nurse her to sleep like I usually do. But she squirmed and insisted on getting down and crawling all over the place in the dark, pulling things out and trying to read her board books even though there wasn't enough light to see the pictures. I continued to try to get her to relax and she continued to fight it. This went on for 45 minutes.

Eventually Braman came in and tried to hold her to get her to rest but, while she much prefers Dada in the daytime, at night she needs Mama and the thought of being kept from Mama at nighttime was so terrible that she cried ("Mama! Mama!") to get back to me. After a little more crying in my arms, she calmed down and went to sleep at about 10:15, about two hours later than her usual bedtime.

Which is why I was surprised this morning when we heard her crying in her crib at 4:30. Actually, this isn't a surprise. She usually cries in the wee hours of the morning and Braman will go get her out of her crib and bring her into bed with us. I nurse her and she falls asleep again. But this morning she came into bed and sat up. I nursed her but she wouldn't fall asleep again. She tossed, she turned, she tried to crawl down to the end of the bed. At 5:30, she did fall asleep again.

Just as I was going to try to get out of bed to start my run, I hear Larsson say "Mama, cuddle me." So I invited him into bed, too, and, sandwiched between two kids, thought for sure that my run was doomed.

But at 6:00, Braman said there was still time to run before he needed to be up, so I extricated myself. Larsson almost unconsciously flopped over to be cuddled by Braman and I left them all sleeping, just like this:



The run was uneventful and I finished the three miles in 33:24. Sometimes the biggest obstacle is just getting out of bed.