Sleepless nights

We have a rule in our family bed. You must be still and quiet. If you start goofing off, you go to your bed. (Pablo sleeps in a twin bed next to our king. Sometime in the night, he crawls into our bed for snuggles, which I am generally happy to give.) If you keep goofing off, you go to your room. Alone. So that people who want to sleep can sleep. It isn't a threat. It is just a need that we have. Sleep is precious. Especially now that certain people stay up half the night. ahem.

Both Beebz and Pablo have gotten into a new fun habit of being restless and awake between about 1:30 and 4:30 in the morning. They don't want to play. They just don't sleep well. This is both the blessing and the curse of co-sleeping. I know when they are awake.

Some nights I am pretty grouchy about being woken up. Other nights I don't mind at all. So the tone of me saying, "Pablo, this is a still and quiet room. Settle down." varies depending on how unconscious I was before the interruption and how long the hijinks have been going on. Sometimes one reminder is enough, and other times he is sent out of the bed.

Last night I was feeling all snuggly and Pablo was being relatively quiet with his sleeplessness, so I was in a pretty mellow mood. Then he started flipping and flopping. And giggling. After a few minutes of this, I sweetly said my standard, "This is a still and quiet space. If you can't be still and quiet, you need to go back to your bed."

I thought I said it really nicely.

He immediately got really still. I mentally congratulatd myself on being clear yet peaceful with my tone at 3AM. I put an arm around him a minute or two later and realised his arms were glued to his sides. He was rigid with the effort to be still.

Then he whispered, "Mama? Can you scratch my nose?"

I wonder how I sounded to him?!