Sleeping: Part 10

It’s funny how quickly you get into a habit when you’ve got a little one. Since Harry’s been sleeping in his own room, he’s tended to wake up just before I get up for work – about 5 to 5.30am as a rule.

Anyway, we’ve got into a habit of putting him in our bed for an hour or so because he settles back to sleep quickly and we’re able to get a few more minutes’ rest before we have to get up.

I know this probably goes against most good parenting guides, but what the heck, it seems to work and Harry’s happy with the arrangement.

However, I was a little bit shocked when, last Thursday, I woke around midnight to find Harry asleep on the pillow next to me. Against my better judgement, I nudged Melissa and asked if something was wrong. Was he ill, is that why she’d brought him in so early?

I got a mumbled reply about thinking it was morning, before Melissa nodded off again. I drifted off to sleep eventually before being woken a couple of hours later by Melissa carrying Harry back to his own bed. As she got back in, she said it was too early for him to be in with us. Being half asleep, I didn’t take too much notice until, an hour later – about half four I think – I was disturbed by Melissa bringing Harry back into our room.

The next day, a slightly bleary-eyed Melissa put this hokey-cokey performance down to tiredness. Goodness knows what Harry made of it all, but he got his revenge the following night.

As usual, he joined us in our bed just before six, and I quickly went back to sleep hoping to get a bit of a lie-in. It was a Saturday morning, after all. Half an hour later, I opened my eyes to find Harry’s nose practically touching mine while he slapped my face with gusto. He was also wearing a huge grin. I’m sure he knew what he was doing.