Occasionally, I take things for granted. So, occasionally, I need to be forced out of my comfort zone so that I might remember to be thankful for the things I have.
Last night was one of those times when I was kicked far outside of my comfort zone. And it reminded me just how thankful I should be that Tina almost always is the one who tries to get Finn back to sleep when he wakes up at night. It’s a tough, tough job. And after doing it for just part of one night I am reminded of how strong my wife is, and how rarely I remember to tell her that.
It all started innocently enough. At around 2:00AM, Finn started whining a bit. The whining persisted, and eventually Tina began to stir in anticipation of going over to Finn’s room to persuade him to sleep a few more hours.
Since the previous night had been difficult for Tina, and since it was a weekend and I didn’t need to go to work in the morning, I volunteered to go over instead.
“Do you want to go?” she asked.
“I don’t necessarily want to go, but I will,” I responded.
“Okay,” she said as she turned over, closed her eyes, and acted as if she were asleep before I could change my mind.
I put on a sweatshirt, grabbed a glass of water for Finn, and walked to the other side of the house.
As soon as I walked in, Finn stood up and asked to be held. Together, we lay down on the extra bed in his room and he quickly stopped whining. The he cuddled next to me, put his head on my shoulder, his hand on my chest, and almost instantly fell asleep.
“This is great!” I thought. "The kid is happy, and there is something so wonderful about having him sleep on me like this. I feel a little like a king.“
Then, a few minutes later I thought, "I need to pee. This is officially getting old.”
That was when I made my first mistake. I picked him up and put him back in his bed far too quickly. He began to protest, but I thought that he would surely go back to sleep soon; he seemed so tired. I shut the tent over his bed, closed the door, and sprinted to the bathroom.
Then Finn got angry.
He was no longer interested in sleeping at all. He was just mad to be alone. He began to howl in protest.
That was when I made my second mistake.
Rather than immediately going back in, I decided to give him some time to calm down on his own. So I sat on the floor in the living room and, realizing that I might have some time to kill, I began checking facebook.
I learned many things over the next 15 minutes. I learned that LSU lost to Alabama. I learned that the two Angelman Syndrome charities were at each other’s throats again. I learned that I don’t want to hear about anyone’s political opinions through facebook updates.
And I learned that Finn was getting more and more angry.
So I finally put the phone down and went back in his room.
As soon as I got Finn out of his bed his anger dissipated. But he was so awake that you might have thought that he had just finished a Red Bull. The kid tried to run around the house. When I told him that he could not leave his room, then he became especially good at turning every available piece of clothing or bedding into the world’s greatest toy. He laughed. He giggled. He squirmed away whenever I tried to lay down with him.
This went on for seemingly an hour. And it just didn’t get better.
Just when I felt like curling up in the fetal position and crying, my savior arrived.
Tina came in and said, “Hey, what’s going on in here?”
“He just won’t go to sleep!” I whimpered. She offered to take over, and before she finished the sentence I sprinted back to our bedroom, pulled the blanket over my head, and prayed for sleep.
I don’t really know when she came back in or how long it took her to get him to sleep. I just know that I felt so helpless in his room last night, and then so relieved as she walked in the door.
The next day, I was tired and grumpy. And it had only been one night. Tina does this all the time. I don’t know how she makes it through the day.
Tina, my love, I am so thankful for you. You do such a great job of taking care of Finn and me. If I ever take you for granted again, just put me on night duty for a couple of days. That will get me to toe the line once again.
