bedtime stories

I will say first that I have mostly not enjoyed sharing a room with Mr. Beckett (my toddler, not Samuel). He has had a hideously hard time adjusting to the change and is up until 10 or worse every night.

I will say second that he is terribly cozy and cuddly to have in our bed.

Currently we have Mommy Books and Daddy Books and we are not allowed to read the other person's designations. Mine include all the Llama books (Lllama, Lllama, Mad at Mama, Llama, Llama Misses Mama and Llama, Llama, Red Pajama) and Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes. Wes somehow got all the Elephant & Piggie books as well as all of Boynton's Little Pookie books in this deal, which does not please me. But there is no arguing with him on this matter.

He then likes to tell stories with us cuddled in our bed. We also enjoy this. The problem is that for the first time ever, he does not want us to leave and he takes forever to fall asleep either way. We usually aren't up to being hardasses about this since we know he will be back in his room in a few weeks and a whole new transition will be necessary. We are just trying to hang in there until things are back to normal and we can get a new bedtime routine going.

We wouldn't mind staying with him for a few minutes. The problem is that it is hours. We inevitably fall asleep with him. If I wake up again (and I don't usually), it is after midnight and I am too out of it to get anything done. So dishes are sitting in the sink. The last few shows on my DVR that I need to watch before they take my cable box away (! I KNOW!) on Friday remain unwatched. THE BLOG GOES UNWRITTEN.

Needless to say, between the hoarder chic living room, the toddler in our room and the teenager being right across the hall as opposed to the basement where he belongs… we are looking forward to the house righting itself.

Sometimes (and it seems more frequent lately), Beck has these sort of mild night terror moments when he screams for Mommy and can converse with me but cannot recognize that I AM MOMMY. I find these tremendously frustrating and am often reduced to tears as I listen to my boy cry for me while he is right in my arms. The other night, I managed to calm him down by repeatedly asking him what he wanted Mommy to do. Finally he answered, "I need Mommy to listen." And I said, "Mommy is listening." And he went back to sleep peacefully. And I stored that reminder in my heart for safekeeping.

Last night I went to a Pre-BlogHer Meetup in the city. I spent the first ten minutes contemplating heading for the door but eventually started introducing myself and chatting. I need to learn my lesson from last year and put myself out there. I had a few interesting chats and was thrilled to see Elisa, BlogHer founder, who remembered me (how can she remember SO MANY people!?) and was super nice.

When I got home, Beck was chattering away in bed with Wes, telling him stories. It took a moment for him to realize I had entered the dark room and changed out of my rain wet clothes. When he did, he popped up and said, "Hi Mommy! I am so happy to see you!" I crawled into bed with him and cuddled while he heaped lovely sentiments on me and held and hugged and kissed me. I meant to get up and wash out the coffee maker parts and put away the dishes and watch Glee, for heaven's sake. But instead I just went to sleep with my kiddo.

Also? I know he is my spawn because often, the first thing he says while drowsily waking up in the morning: "I want cookies."