I still don’t know what happened to Baby A on Tuesday. She’s such a proud kid, she is even very
reluctant to tell us if she tripped or fell.
When I got home from work, she did tell me she had “bumps” on her lip,
though. Sure enough, her top lip was a
bit swollen.
[The best I can figure is that she bit herself somehow. And when I was doing laundry last night, I
saw a big dirty smudge on the arm of the sweatshirt she wore that day. I’d guess those are related somehow.]
When she first told me about her lip, she was
matter-of-fact. It didn’t seem to bother
her. But within a few minutes, she
started to complain that it hurt. I had
her rinse with water, and hold some cool water on it, but (after I called my
nurse friend to confer) I told her she’d need to rest and hope it felt better
in the morning.
Our girls are usually very quick to bed and to sleep. My poor baby girl, though, was having
trouble. I got the feeling it was as
much emotion for her as it was discomfort.
She was whimpering, tossing and turning. She clearly couldn’t get her mind to settle
for sleep.
For many reasons, chief among them 1) having twins, and 2)
being a staunch advocate for sleep training and reinforcement, I have rarely
ever slept with the girls. As
wonderfully cuddly as it is to have them climb into bed with us, for example,
it’s just not something we do. I don’t
want to start that habit, as I know it would not be wonderfully cuddly for very
long.
There are occasions where I bend my rules, though, and
Tuesday night was one of them.
I knew my A just needed to relax. I went upstairs and, without a word, I
snuggled behind her in bed. I whispered
some “I love you’s” and stroked her hair.
She quieted and snuggled back against me. She hugged my arm that was draped over her,
and she kissed my hand.
We stayed like this for a while, her, gradually relaxing,
and me, breathing it all in.
Of course I didn’t have my camera with me, but I’ll treasure
this memory in my mind. It was one of
those precious times when Mommy really could make things better.
2 comments:
Even my A at 10 sometimes need a bit of a cuddle if the day was a rough one. I love it - now when they are older and there is no issue of them growing attached to you when sleeping it is a total blessing
I ADORE this story...and your memory of it. <3 Like you, we weren't keen on sleeping in bed with our kids either, but Sunday night, with Double Daddy out on business, She-Twin stayed with me. Treasured moments with our growing babies are A-OK. <3
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