Just being there...

As I sit writing this, I am sitting on my almost 3 yr old's bed, waiting for him to fall asleep.

It's been a long, long while since we had to sit with Alex as he fell asleep. Even though its kind of a pain, it's also nice to just sit and watch my youngest child as he drifts off to the land of nod.

As a baby, he would cry as soon as we put him down. We could rock him to sleep and the moment his body hit the cot, he would wake. We tried patting, controlled crying, singing, music, you name it. The only thing that would send Alex off to sleep was sitting in the room with him, not talking, just being there. Sometimes it took 5mins for him to fall asleep, sometimes more than an hour!

As this became a habit, we tried moving closer to the door each night, until eventually we just had to tuck him in, stand at the door, count to 10 and then he was happy for us to leave.

But tonight was different.

Tonight, Alex smashed Megan's fingers in the door and saw how upset she got and how much her fingers swelled up. Tonight, he bit Mike and really got growled at. Tonight, he accidentally dropped a glass and it shattered all over the floor.

Tonight, he was in a very fragile frame of mind.

Tonight he needed mum again... just to sit. Not talk, just be there.

 

And tonight, I am more than happy to be where he needs me.