111773001158402449

After a certain age your kids won’t wake up in the middle of the night crying. Or at least it won’t happen every night.
I had forgotten what it’s like to hear your baby crying in the middle of the night, so when Alyx was crying in her room at 4:30 in the morning I was disoriented.

I stumbled over Polly Pocket and jeans to get to her.
“Come on, come get in bed with me.” I took her hot little hand and we climbed into my bed.
She told me that she had a nightmare that she was cleaning her room and Kara wasn’t helping. Then she said everyone left her.

Nightmares break my heart because I have had nightmares haunt me my whole life. In the time I have been with Shaun the nightmares have lessened to once a month instead the regular 2 a night.

She was boiling hot. I didn’t want to get up and leave her to get her a wash cloth, I didn’t want to leave her because I had just been telling her that I would never, ever leave her.

Shaun in his half asleep zombie state, got up. I must have been talking too loudly and he was going to get up and do that thing he does when he wakes up in the middle of the night. I don’t know what it is…he walks down the hall, back up again, fiddles with the alarm clock and then gets back into bed.

He went and got her a cool paper towel to put on her neck…and then climbed right back into bed and fell asleep. You didn’t know he was a mind reader did you?

She woke up this morning still really hot and I told her. “Honey, you’re missing your last day of school.” She’s not too happy about it. She would rather be saying her good-byes.

***