It’s not very often that Kiera comes into our bedroom at night. Thankfully, ninety percent of the time, once she falls asleep, she stays asleep. That’s a huge plus for this Mommy. I am NOT a pleasant person without 7-8 hours of sleep. If you don’t believe me, ask my husband, parents, friends, and/or co-workers. But, I digress.
If Kiera wakes up in the middle of the night, there’s usually an ear-splitting “Mama!” scream. I have become accustomed to the “Mama!” yell. A year ago, when she would yell for me, I would fling myself out of bed and stumble to her room, expecting monsters, ghosts, burglars, etc. Now, when she yells for me, I grab my phone for light and fling myself out of bed. I then stumble my way to her room knowing I will either be covering her with her special blanket, looking for Quack-Quack or getting her a glass of milk.
Last night, was a little different. Around two in the morning, I heard whimpering. I immediately reached for my phone, hitting a button so that it would cast a soft glow in the room. Standing beside my side of the bed was Kiera clutching her blanket and Quack-Quack. She was softly crying.I quickly sat up and pulled her to me. “Baby, what’s wrong?”
“I tripped on a shoe.” She responded in between little sobs.
I hugged her close for a minute before releasing her. She picked her blanket off the ground and tossed it onto the bed and proceeded to climb into my spot.
“Oh…umm… do you want to sleep with Mommy and Daddy?” I asked as I grabbed the extra pillow I keep in the floor. I quickly tossed it into the middle of the bed and covered her with her blanket. I laid back down on my now smaller piece of bed and settled in.
“I’m thirsty, Mama.” Kiera whispered.
After getting her glass of milk, we settled back in. Kiera quickly fell asleep while I tried to get comfortable with a foot sticking in my back.
Just as I drifted off to sleep, Kiera began to whimper while tossing and turning. I rolled over to face her. “Baby, what’s wrong?” I asked, trying to keep my eyes open.
Her answer was a garbled mess of sleepy whining.
“Baby, I can’t understand you. Tell me again.”
She whined out another try. By this time, I am fully awake trying to decipher what could possibly be wrong. I still could not understand what she said. “One more time, baby.” I said.
I listened as hard as I could, without physically climbing over her and putting my ear to her lips. I tried again. “Umm… your pajamas ate your blanket?” That’s what I heard. I found out my translation was not correct as she cried a little harder and managed to get out a clear “no!”
She tried again to tell me while she still cried. At this point, Aaron rolled over and said, “You can’t hear your music?”
My poor husband; Kiera and I both responded no to him. I think he rolled back over after that.
Finally, she turned her face to me and said between crying, “The chair smashed my finger.”
Trying to hide the disbelief in my voice, I repeated her answer back as a question.
“All my fingers! The chair smashed all my fingers!” She cried.
Oh. I have no idea why that was so hard for me to understand. Let me explain. I have been known to say a few weird things in my sleep. In fact, if you ask Aaron, I am sure he would love to tell you about my conversation involving purple alligators while I was asleep.
Actually, just forget I said anything about that. Don’t ask him. What I am trying to say is, I now know what he feels like, having random conversations with me at 2:30 in the morning. I just never imagined I would have those conversations with my four year old.
I gently laid my head by her hand and kissed each of her fingers. “Better?”
She softly sighed and cuddled back into her blanket. “Yes.”
I rolled back over, careful not to roll off the bed and wake everyone up. Clinging to the edge of the bed and with a foot softly situated in my back, I fell asleep thinking how blessed Aaron and I are.
Have a great week and watch out for finger smashing chairs!
Rowonna McNeely is a graphic artist for Willie’s T’s Screenprint & Embroidery. She is a mother of a four year old girl and step mother of two adult girls. Her crazy life includes a dog, Sloane, and a psychotic cat, Gracie, along with Ziggy, a male boxer who is scared of thunder and loves to chew random items… She is married to her prince, who is still outnumbered by the opposite gender.
