Hallelujah

Miracles happen to those who believe. . .

And just like that Danny is sleeping through the night!!

I don't even know what happened. We have been trying for a while, but nothing worked.

Danny has co-slept with us since he was six-months-old. Out of necessity we had to allow this, even though we weren't happy with it. When he was six-months we didn't have a room for him, so his crib was in our room. You can't exactly ignore a baby who wakes in the middle of the night when you are in the same room, the baby will NOT go back to sleep if he can see you. So there we were, co-sleeping. When he finally got his own room around ten months he continued to wake at the same time every night. I could have broken the habit then I suppose, but being a full-time student meant that I was completely exhausted, and frankly couldn't spare to lose any sleep at night trying to get him back to sleep.

Fast forward to graduation and the desperate attempts to get him to stop coming to our bed in the middle of the night began. I couldn't really imagine him coming to our bed while having a newborn and it not screwing up his schedule and making my life a living hell. He was stubborn, an in the last month I gave up. I pretty much decided that he could sleep in our bed till he was ten if that is what was going to happen. I would take it all as it came, but I was just too darn tired to keep trying.


And now he sleeps through the night. Other that one night in the last two weeks (after a nightmare) he came to our room. He loves to come get me in the morning and get praise for staying in his bed like a big boy. I don't know what changed for him, but husband and I are both thrilled, for obvious reasons. I feel better about life in general knowing that I can nurse our daughter all night (if she EVER decides to be born), without disturbing Danny and his schedule.

I will admit to being slightly sad. It is just another reminder that my child is growing up so fast, and doesn't need me in every little way. I know this is part of life, and I need to get over it, but I don't think it will ever be easy to watch my children grow up and begin to need me less and less.

Prayers

Every night at bedtime we say prayers with Danny. It is part of our nightly routine, we never skip it. After dinner Danny gets a bath and plays a bit. We then brush teeth, read stories and then say our prayers. We are Catholic, but my family was protestant until I was about eight-years-old. That being said, we say formal prayers as well as prayers right from the heart. Danny is starting to memorize the Catholic prayers that we say, he says the words that he can, right at the appropriate time. It is so sweet to see and hear. He also remembers all the people in our family who we pray for, each night. If I say "bless uncle Bri Bri," he immediately says "Haley," because he knows we pray for them together.

It really warms my heart.

Danny has had a few nightmares in the past two months. Two nights he had what seemed to be night terrors. He woke up screaming, but I guess was still asleep because when we went in to check on him he tried to fight us off. One night this week he came to our room in tears. The next morning he told me, after I asked what scared him, that he saw a ghost. No more Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown for him. . .

The night after his first nightmare, after prayers I told him that if he ever gets scared he just has to say Jesus and everything will be ok. I told him if he says a prayer when he is scared then the scary thing will go away and he can go back to sleep.

Tonight, as soon as I closed his bedroom door he began to cry and came to his door. As I walked him back to bed I told him not to be scared, and that everything would be alright. I told him I was still home, just not in his room. As he laid back down on his bed he closed his eyes and said "Jesus, Jesus."

 It might just have been the most precious thing I have ever seen. Not only does it remind me that he is getting bigger and understanding so much of what I say to him, but it also showed me that he is such a sweet little boy, who is going to grow up loving God and having faith. I know I can't be sure that he grows up to be a "good little Catholic," but I can do my best to give him an example of that. I love that he is only two and knows to pray and ask for God's help when he is scared.

My only hope is that this kind of sweetness and innocence can stay with him, even if just a little bit, through middle school and high school, kids those ages are scary little monsters!