Some middle-of-the-night conversations.
Starring AM, self, and other self.*
AM (grunting, trying to hoist himself up onto my bed by pulling on my pillow): Ehhhhh!
Me (reaching over to help): C’mere.
Self: WHAT are you DOING?
Other self: Wha? Whozat?
Self: You are TRYING to NIGHTWEAN him, you DUMBASS!
Other self: Well, it could be 4:30 in the morning. Or even five! That would be ok.
Self: And what time is it?
Other self (propping on an elbow to look at the clock): 2:30.
Self: Put him back in his bed right now!
Other self: I am so tired. I am just going to lie right here. He will settle down.
Self: Whoa, are you stupid!
Other self to AM, who is signing to nurse: Honey, we’re not going to nurse right now. We’ll nurse later.
AM: Waaaaah!
Other self: Shhh….ok, you can nurse, but only for one minute. Ema is going to count to 10 and then you will be all done.
Self: I can’t even talk to you anymore!
Other self: Ok, AM, you’re finished.
AM: Waaaaah!
AM stops fussing, but proceeds to do his usual “I am a honeybee, and I have the pollen 411″ dance in bed.
Other self: All right, let’s go back to your bed.
AM: Waaah!
Self: It’s about time. Although waiting 30 minutes? Bad idea.
Twenty minutes after that.
AM: Eh!
Self/Other self: Lie down, AM! Stay in your bed, please.
AM: Waaahhh!
Ten minutes later, AM is climbing my pillow. Again.
Other self: I give up. AM, you can nurse.
Self: You know, you try to be all smart and read Ask Moxie, but at your very core, you are a dumbass!
Other self: Shut up! I am just!so!tired!
Self: So this is really helping you out.
Other self: Did I ask for your opinion?
At 4, I take AM back to his bed, where he sleeps until 5 and rejoins me.
At 6:44, I hear thud, thud, thud in the hallway.
Miss M: Ema, I want to nurse, please!
Me: Go use the potty. Now. And please whisper–I don’t want you to wake AM.
Miss M (crying): I want to nurse!
Me: Just go to the bathroom!
AM: Ehhh.
Some day, I will spend a night in a hotel. With an Ambien. I will wake up and be a human being.
I look forward to that day.
* Taxman would help if he could, but AM + Taxman at night = unearthly shrieks of displeasure. But when we really go for the nightweaning, I think that is how it’s going to have to be for a few nights. Just trying to find the time to schedule it.

6 comments
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December 6, 2007 at 3:42 pm
Madeleine
Hugs. Because wow, you must be tired.
December 6, 2007 at 6:13 pm
B
Seriously, are you a fly on my wall or something? Though I don’t have the extra kid asking to nurse…
I had Katie nightweaned (being a stickler, I chose 11-6 as my hours in the night and otherwise I’d nurse her and to me that counts as nightweaning), then the in laws showed up for a visit and we’ve yet to recover. She needed extra comfort then and I just have to find the energy and will to be a hard ass again.
December 6, 2007 at 8:51 pm
chichimama
Do it before mid-January if you want to do it
. Isn’t that when tax season kicks in? I always had issues with actually following through on my plans to night wean. Because in the middle of the night, I am almost always a huge fan of the path of least resistance. In fact, I believe that the last nursing to go with C was the 4 am one…
Can I offer you some cookies? They are, if I say so myself, the best cookies I have ever made. Which isn’t saying much, but still….they might help in the middle of the night.
December 6, 2007 at 9:00 pm
Shanna
Oh man, I’m sorry.
Does Taxman have “forced vacation” at the end of this month? That may be an excellent time for nightweaning.
December 7, 2007 at 10:40 am
3daughters
BTDT too…
December 7, 2007 at 1:11 pm
caramama
This was also eerily similar to my night last night! (Is that how you spell eerily?) Without the second child.
I did try to get the Pumpkin back to sleep without nursing her (well, without nursing for long, because I forgot at first), but she was having none of it. So I also gave into the path of least resistence. It was just easier.
Besides, she’s teething and going through the 9-month sleep regression, so she needs extra comfort, right? And isn’t it too early to nightwean for us? And what else can I tell myself so I don’t feel guilty about taking the easy way back to sleep?
Good luck, Ema!