Sleep...please?

Matthew is teething again, and it has been a painful experience for all of us. So far, he has three teeth in, and he is working on his fourth. I can see that tooth just floating on the surface, but for some reason, it won't break through the gum. It is like a shark that nibbles on the toes of his prey without the typical warning there is danger by breaking the surface with his dorsal fin.

Do you remember the opening scene in the movie Jaws where Chrissie goes out swimming and is suddenly attacked from below? First there is a slight tug, and Chrissie shows a look of confusion, "what is that?" Suddenly, fear sets in and she realizes she is being eaten alive. Her shrills and shrieks and panic are similar sounds we hear from Matthew. There is nothing we can do to make him happy. He crawls around with this look of, "please pick me up!" Once we pick him up, he wants to be put down, and then he screams even louder because that is not what he wanted.

With new teeth coming in, he isn't sleeping as much as he should either. He is waking up several times each night and causing grief and pain to the rest of us.

Lately, he has been in the habit of waking about an hour before I would normally. I have turned into a walking zombie. Day after day, time I would consider valuable and precious to me becomes time dedicated to him. I guess this should make me a better father, because it is showing selflessness, but if I don't catch up on sleep soon, I won't be a friendly father. This means the quality time with my children would be ....well, not so great. I am now finding myself retiring earlier each night, rather than doing the things I love such as reading or watching a movie.

This morning, Matthew once again woke up around 6:00AM. I got up; I fixed him a warm bottle, and went into his room and changed his diaper, then fed him the bottle. I kept the lights off, cradled and rocked him, and then when he finished the bottle, I put him back in his bed. Success! I was able to go back to my room, shower and get dressed for work. I listened intently...... there were no sounds coming from his room. He actually went back to sleep.

Matthew is a very light sleeper and his room is near our garage. Most mornings when I leave, he must hear me. I try ever so quietly to tiptoe out of my bedroom, and quietly close the doors without so much as a click or a squeak. I figure he must hear me start up the car each morning, because when I get the report from Coralee later in the day, she informs me that he starts hollering about the same time I leave each day.

I haven't called Coralee yet to get this morning's report, but I tried something different today. I quietly made my way to the garage. I disengaged the automatic garage door opener and quietly lifted the garage door myself. I then put my car into neutral and pushed it out into the driveway. I then closed the garage door, re-engaged the automatic opener, then quietly made my way back into the home, tiptoed my way to the front door, locked it, then got in the car, started it and drove away. If I was successful, this may be my everyday routine in an effort to allow others in the house to sleep a little longer.