Sweet Dreams

I've often wondered what happens at night when I go to bed.  I do wake up periodically and listen for anything out of the ordinary. But I'll admit it's a bit hard to "listen" for anything when you have a fan blasting on the nightstand all night and all year long.  Darren's habit that became my habit once we got married.  Now I can't sleep anywhere without a little bit of white noise.  Newborn therapy that works shockingly well for adults.  A blessing and a curse.

And by "out of the ordinary" what I really mean is "Are my children sleeping peacefully?  Are they up and about?  Are there things that go on in the middle of the night that I should be aware of?" Surely not.  But then I see and hear what goes on in my girls room after they have gone to bed, but before we've hit the sack.  It's weird.

There seems to be a lot of sleep talking.  Sometimes I head in just to see if I can make out what they're dreaming about.  Then I see tossing and turning.  Or sitting up in bed.  Or out of bed wandering around in circles.  Sometimes looking for the bathroom.  Other times just wandering.  Mostly with vacant stares.  It kind of freaks me out.  And makes me wonder what happens when I am asleep.

And then Jace will tell me about how he needed a drink in the middle of the night.  So he got one.  Or he was uncomfortable in bed so decided to sleep on the couch for awhile.  These things happened years ago.  He's only 4.  An independent 4.

So awhile back I was surprised ( but really not) to notice a light on in the kitchen.  And while Darren does get up to eat midnight snacks every night ( I thought it was weird too when we first got married.  Now I'm just used to it), he was sleeping peacefully beside me.  So I got up to investigate and found Jace getting his water bottle.   I helped him back to bed, wondering how often this actually happens,
and went back to bed myself.  I wasn't sleeping well that night so it took awhile for me to settle back down.  About a half hour later, just as I was dozing, I heard my door creak open.  I cracked my eye open to see Jace standing inches from my face.

"Mommy, I was just laying in my bed and looking out my window for a while, and a monster is there.  I was wondering if I could just sleep with you guys until he decides to leave?"

"Sure, jump in."  And now I know that there is in fact, a lot that goes on in the middle of the night.