Making up for lost time...

Amelia stopped co-sleeping with us at around 10 months I think. She was nursing like every five minutes and bouncing and rolling around like a ball in a pin ball machine and none of us were getting much sleep. So into a hammock in the nursery she went. It was bittersweet and it took her a loooooooong time to learn to fall asleep on her own and then to go back to sleep on her own. It was traumatic for us all but I didn't know what else to do. Sam slept really well with us until a bit over a year and transitioned easily to a crib. We missed him and his cuddly ways, but having our bed to ourselves did feel luxurious for a while. Fast forward to almost two and a half when Miss Amelia starts climbing out of her big girl bed and into ours. At first she was flipping and flopping and so we fought it. We gave consequences if she didn't go back to her bed. We groggily woke up and put her back and put her back and put her back. Then suddenly, things changed. We would wake up in the morning or in the deep of the night and there she would be, sleeping soundly in between us. No flipping. No flopping. We didn't even know she had come to bed! So, we stopped fighting it and started embracing it. Well, as the nights went on her arrival time into our room became earlier and now she comes in between 11-1 usually. And we love it. We giggle as we hear her open her door and then slam shut. She staggers into our room with her crazy hair and sleepy eyes and plaid flannel gown. She climbs into our bed and curls up silently and is greeted with kisses and squeezes from both mama and dadoo. And I think about how we fight things, sometimes, like little ones sharing sleep with us or "having" to rock them to sleep. I mean, I get it. Sleep deprivation is not fun. I have been there, done that and I realize that co-sleeping, etc. can sometimes make for tricky transitions. You have to find what works best for everyone. But sometimes, I think we push independence way too soon and we miss out on the gift of allowing our children to depend on us, to rest in our arms and close to our hearts. And so, our Amelia, she has realized that if she is still (which she now is most of the time) she can rest with us and share sleep peacefully and make up for some lost time.