The Awakening

Last night, I mean, this morning, Madeline woke out of a sound sleep and began screaming. It's one of the most disturbing sounds, a child in pain. I ran to her crib and saw that her tiny arm was wedged in between the bumper and the mattress. My first worry was dislocation. I unfettered her and picked her up. She continued to shriek for close to a minute and then settled down, but appeared to be wide awake. Although I had sympathy for my daughter, I didn't necessarily want her to begin waking every night/morning at 1:18am. Babies are the ultimate creatures of habit, as both Christian and Madeline have proven quite well.

I managed to soothe her with soft strokes on her cheek and whispering to her as I did to her brother before her, "It's nighnigh time, go to sleep." Though still awake, I placed her in her crib and let her fall asleep on her own. It took close to an hour.

One thing you gotta love as a parent is the unpredictability. Sure, they have their general schedules of when they like to eat and when they get tired, but you never know when they're going to wake up at the witching hour and create a memory. One of my favorite movie scenes is in the movie Parenthood, when the grandmother tells Steve Martin's character about life being like a roller coaster. Of course he rolls his eyes at the cliche, but later cries when he's hit with the realization that there hasn't been a more accurate and beautiful description. That's how I feel at 1:18am. I feel like crying because I'm so tired, but I'm also crying at how amazing my child is when she is sound asleep on my chest, or when she is wide awake, with her beautiful tenacity, fighting sleep with life and limb.