Usually Susanna sleeps by herself in her room with the futon for guests, Tommy and Elizabeth sleep in their room, and Derek and I sleep in our room. Not tonight!
6:30- Susanna goes down in her crib. Lucky her.
7:30- Derek puts the big kids down in their own beds.
8:00- I come home from errands and find Tommy in Elizabeth’s bed. Move him back. Elizabeth starts crying.
9:00- She is still crying, and Tommy is close to sleep but wants her to come in to his bed and snuggle. I say it’s okay, but she keeps crying.
10:00- She is still crying, and she has woken Tommy up. I move Tommy to the futon in Susanna’s room and Derek gets in bed with Elizabeth to try to calm her down.
10:15- Derek gives up on getting Elizabeth down and brings her into our bed. I nurse Susanna quietly so as not to wake up Tommy and put her back in her bed.
10:30- I’m in our bed, but Elizabeth’s snoring (she has a cold) is bugging me.
10:45- I try to move Elizabeth back to her own bed. She wakes up and cries. I put her back in our bed and move my pillow to Tommy’s bed (because it doesn’t have the rail). I’m not used to sleeping in a twin, which is why I’m back up and restless.
If you were keeping track, that’s Susie in her own bed all along, Derek in two beds but ending up in his own, Tommy in three beds and ending up on the futon, Elizabeth in three beds ending up in ours, and me in two beds ending up in Tommy’s. There is a Shirley Jackson story that recounts a similar night in their house, culminating in cigarettes in the crib and a missing blanky. I’m not sure of the whereabouts of Elizabeth’s blanky, but hopefully we’ll find it in the morning.
Being sick as a family is really not fun.