Saturday, October 31, 2009

Do Infants Have a Sixth Sense for Knowing when Their Parents are Almost Asleep

My one-month-old daughter woke me up this morning at 5:30 a.m. After I feed her, I put her back in bed as usual, but this morning instead of falling back asleep, she wanted her pacifier. I gave it to her, got back in bed, and just as the wonderful sleepy haze came over me and I hear "Whaaaa" (baby code for "Mom, my pacifier! It's gone! I think the teddy bear took it! Help!!!"). As I grab my robe and make my journey across the house I think "Oh my poor baby lost her pacifier! Mommy is coming!"
I place the pacifier back in her mouth, she wiggles with contentment, and quickly begins sucking the life out of it. I wait a few minutes to ensure the pacifier is securely in her mouth and then I return to bed thinking about how good it makes me feel to do the little things for my baby girl. I then begin to envision the stage on which I will accept my Mom of the Year award.
As I lie down and once again begin to fall into a pleasant sleep (no doubt dreaming about my future Mom of the Year award), I hear "Whaaaa, Whaaaa, Whaaaa". Ok, here we go again. Once more, I am up. I am slightly irritated, but I repeat the above steps, and once more my baby girl is happy and Mom of the Year is closer.
Once more I lie down and begin to settle into a deep sleep when "Whaaaa! Whaaaa! Freaking Whaaa!"Ok, this should be the last time I have to give her back the pacifier. After this time, she will fall asleep. Right? Wrong!!!!!
Baby and I repeat the pacifier battle for an hour. I stick it in her mouth and she pretends that she is going to suck on it until she falls asleep and then spits it out as soon as she senses I am asleep. I was so optimistic for sleep this morning and I swear, right before I finally acquiesced to the almighty powers of Sporadically Crying Baby, she let out a little mischeiveous giggle. It sounded something like "Whaaaaa! Whaaaaa! Hehehehehe! Whaaaa! Whaaaa! Hahahaha!" I think she and the teddy bear were conspiring against me.

1 comment: