Special Time With Mommy

Our new bedtime routine (where I sit in Shane's room while he falls asleep), which has been working perfectly for the last week, didn't work last night.

He was fine for 10 minutes, but then he started getting fussy and that fussiness turned into all out screaming in no time at all. My first reaction was "Oh, Shit". I was thinking that now I was going to be spending the next 2 hours trying to come up with a creative scheme to get this kid to fall asleep. I tried taking him out of his crib and reading him a few more books, only to have him start crying when I put him back in the crib. I tried taking him out of the crib again and this time, just held him. No good. He wanted down. I put him back into the crib again and he started to cry again.

Finally, at the suggestion of my Mom (thanks, Mom!), I pulled him out and took him into our bedroom. I put in "Elmo Saves Christmas" (the only movie we have on VHS) and Shane and I layed on our bed for 30 minutes watching Elmo. I loved every minute of it. What started out as an "Oh Shit" moment turned into one of my most precious memories. We cuddled, we "talked" and we watched Elmo. And at 9:00, I picked him up, carried him into his room, gave him a kiss, said goodnight, laid him in his crib and sat down in the chair beside him. He was asleep 15 minutes later.

As I sat there watching him fall asleep I thought of the special Mommy and baby time that we just shared, and I thanked Shane for it as he laid there in his crib with drowsy, heavy eyes. He must've known that Mommy needed that special time. He must've known even before Mommy did.