Sleep Tight

As my children get older, it is getting more and more likely that I can actually have the elusive night of uninterrupted sleep. It is, I suppose, one of the benefits of not having a tiny baby around. Molly has been sleeping through the night for well over a year now, and is actually one of the best sleepers in the house.

Since we took the swimming pool down for the summer and my kids aren't spending three to five hours a day in the pool, there have been a lot less wet beds--as in none. Did you know there was a tie between swimming and bed wetting? I didn't, but it sure became apparent when Thomas, who never wet the bed before, suddenly started soaking his sheets every night that he'd spent the day in the pool. He told us that he was dreaming he was in the pool. Does this mean that he regularly pees in the pool?

Lilly wakes quite often, screaming from nightmares. Usually Thomas or Amberly are being mean in her horrible dreams. Fortunately, she just needs a drink of water and a kiss and she can generally go right back to quiet sleep.

Amberly stays up late, trying to secretly read her books by the light of her closet, the moon, or the night light. But once she's asleep, she is dead to the world and the screaming of her dreaming sister/roommate.

Just like most moms, I've gotten used to responding to requests in the night from my children. They need their blankets straightened or help going to the bathroom. They have a bloody nose or bad dreams. It's too dark or too light. They're too cold or too hot. They wet the bed or threw up on the pillow and in their hair (my least favorite). The moon or the sunrise is just too cool for me to sleep through. They need a drink of water or another kiss.

Saturday night I awoke to Thomas's sweet breath on my face (freaks me out to suddenly wake up to their little faces just inches from mine). He usually wakes Utah Dad so I was surprised. I was even more surprised by his request.

"I have ear wax," he said.

Ear wax at three in the morning? That's a new one. I cleaned his ears, even though they were cleaner than usual, tucked him back in his bottom bunk, gave him a drink of water, a hug and a kiss and went back to bed. He was the only one to wake me up.