Trying to Give the Mom a Little Time to Sleep In

I met fierce resistance early this morning as I tried to be a helpful grandpa and give my daughter Kate a little more time to sleep. As often is the case, I heard my grandson Nathan thrashing around in her bed in the room next door and heard that familiar muffled cry…”Daaad!”

At this point (it was 6:06 am) I usually spring out of bed and come get Nathan, who is 3 and who likes to annoy his mother and refuses to go back to sleep once he’s woken up. Since I don’t have the responsibilities of childcare, diaper changing and daily minding, this little gesture of mine seems fair. So I usually swoop in, pick him up and we go downstairs to make pancakes or play PBS Kids on the laptop. It’s often a nice time to spend with him, me drinking coffee and Nathan enthusiastically helping make pancakes or delighting in the games on the ‘puter.

It’s a 20 or 30 minute rescue and it makes all the difference to his sleep-deprived mom. But today, the resistance got the best of me. We went downstairs in a torrent of tears, him fighting with all his might, he writhed and thrashed and tried mightily to flee back upstairs. After a struggle, with me clasping his small but sturdy limbs in my hands, he fought and fought enough to get away, and run back upstairs. Sigh. I tried to help her out, but my quarry eluded me.

In our extended family, everyone has a job to do. Mine didn’t go well this morning, so now it’s time to get on with our day, a little sleep deprived, but ok.