One more cup of coffee

New ways of sleeping

Nathan decided last night, at about 1:30 AM, that he did not want to be sleeping lying down. He shared his feelings with his parents clearly and without equivocation.

Nathan’s father last night, at about 1:30 AM, wanted to sleep very much. He expressed his feelings clearly and without equivocation. But that was irrelevant, of course.

The curious thing was that Nathan did, in fact, want to sleep. He just wanted to sit up for the occasion. As soon as I would sit him up, his head would instantly droop – I mean within mere milliseconds of his back being brought to a vertical position – and he’d fall asleep.

I’d wait a few minutes, start to lie him down, and as soon as his back passed about 10 degrees off vertical, he’d tell me that that was NOT OK. 5 degrees off vertical, OK. 10.1 degrees: right out.

We played this game for a little while – me sitting him up until I started to doze off, at which point I’d start to ease him back down, at which point I would not be about to doze off anymore. This went on until Meredith asked if we might not be able to play this fun game somewhere else. Say, in the other half of the house, with as many closed doors between her and us as possible.

It was a long night.