Abbie and I took a looong nap today. We probably slept 2-2 and a half hours. The reason? We are recovering forma lovely bout with hand, foot, and mouth disease. Yep, the first thing Abbie ever brings home from daycare after a year and a half of being there. And it was a doozy.
My child, whom I've never seen watch more than an hour of TV in her life, has sat in front of that television for the better part of the last 4-5 days. I am pretty sure we have watched Elmo Goes to Grouchland 18 times. We have also solidified our love for Thomas the Train and Barney, and had a brief fling with Calliou.
And for whatever reason (be it the rash in her mouth or an adverse reaction to sleeping in front of the tv), Abbie has not been sleeping well. Ok, let me rephrase that; Abbie has not even been sleeping badly. It has been that awful. Our formerly somewhat peaceful bedtime routine has been turned into an event that would deem our upstairs portion of the house as a certifiable natural disaster area. And all of this before we even realized she had the virus. There has been screaching, crying, banging, throwing, hitting, kicking. Did I mention screaching? Oooooh, the screaching. :( She has gone to bed hours too late and woke up hours too early. It became apparent very quickly we would have to make some sort of compromise with our distraught toddler.
So she has slept downstiars. On the couch. In front of the TV. With mommy. With daddy. In grandmommy and grandaddy's bed. In our bed. And you would think that she would pass out when it was already hours past her bed time, she'd only taken half a nap that day, and she'd spent 75% of the day distressed over something. But nooo.
We have had more late night slumber parties over the last week than I care to talk about. I have been blessed by God with understanding and love like I wouldn't belive I possessed some times.
I have layed in Abbie's room (on a good night after we got her medicated by the way), pretending to be asleep (so that maybe she would drift off). I watched her play, jump, read books, sing songs, and oh... let's not forget... play with diaper rash cream. Oh yes, they tell you you'll do a lot of things as a mother. They never mention that you'll lay in your toddler's floor, feeling like a bad spy as you inconspicuously peer at her out of one eye, watching her open a diaper rash cream tube and stick her finger in it. And then get up and wipe her hands off with a wipe. Yes, on a side note, that was part of one of our slumber parties one night. As I lay there in the floor, Abbie lay down on her fuzzy bear rug in her floor. Aah, I thought, she's finally going to sleep (we'd been in the room for an hour by this point) Nope; she picked up the tube of Desitin and meticulously opened it and stuck one of her tiny fingers in it. She looked at it, turned it, and studied it some more. Then she stood, took a clean baby wipe, and carefully wiped off the finger. She layed back down, got comfortable, and opened the tube again. She got up and wiped it off again. I watched her do this 18 times. And while I was laying there, I thought "people never tell you about this part of motherhood."
But alas, we are hopefully putting these experiences and so many more behind us. In fact, we are headed off to bed now. I am not sure how it will go, so pray for us. She is already requesting Elmo. *Sigh* And for the sake of my sanity (which depends on sleep to survive), ask God to ensure that Abbie does not get sick again any time soon.
Love,
Melissa
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