There's A Monster In My Room

There is nothing creepier than waking up at 3am with your bedroom light on, and a 5 year old standing at the foot of your bed staring you in the face. EEK!! Totally freaked me out. "There's a monster in my room," says Jackson, "and I will not sleep in my bed." The first night that Maddie goes to bed great, Jackson keeps me up with tales of spooky monsters. He's probably just freaked out because I cleaned his room yesterday, and he can actually see his floor now! Yes, seeing the carpet is creepy! So I just let him make a little bed on the floor with blankets and a pillow, and he slept there. My alarm clock goes off at 5:30am to get ready for work, and now here I am. Swollen eyed, yawning, and head in a daze. Six more hours until I can go home, which is about seven hours too long.

I have a new nap/bedtime routine with Maddie that's a little wacky but hey, it works. I start her music first, then lay her down in bed over-acting the whole "snuggie wuggie buggie muggly cutie fruity" talk. Then I tickle her sides, and take her soft Gymboree seashell fishie blanket and go "tuck tuck tuck, tuck tuck tuck" as I tuck it under her sides. Then I lift up her feet, and snuggle them in her blanket. (She loves that part, and now automatically lifts her feet because she knows that's coming next.) Then I lay her Grandma Katie blankie on top of that. One side gets pulled up by her face with a "snug snug snug" on her cheek, and her arm wrapped around it. The other side gets tucked under her arm and another "tuck tuck tuck" down her sides. She loves it.