Night Games

Two times in a week our alarm clock, which hasn't been set for years, has mysteriously gone off in the middle of the night

The first time I suspected the power had gone off during the day and somehow it got accidentally set, when it was reset,(or something like that), but the second time at 2 am I was a little more suspicious of a certain dark-eyed roving gang member.

Perhaps you aren't aware that my James is a night Owl.

Not to say he stays up late, he goes to bed by the usually 8:30, but unlike others this is really just a refresher nap for his night games.

Around 2 or 3 the games begin, he begins by sitting up and giving me a juicy kiss on the cheek then crawling over to Dad, standing up to gain access over the human wall Barry tries to create with his back and planting a juicy kiss on his forehead. Or perhaps wedging his head under the pillow Barry has clamped over head to bestow his nightly kiss.

There are many games, hanging off the bed, inspecting the nightlights, dropping various objects left on the bed down the gap between the wall and the headboard,(almost impossible retrieve) climbing UP the headboard, handing me my glasses, re-handing me my glasses, trying to put my glasses on me and giggling, handing Barry his headlamp, singing me a lively wake up song, etc. etc.

So I admit that in the past I might have helped perpetuate this behavior.

I know, I know I should put him in his crib and let him cry himself to sleep and maybe after 14 days of heartlessly listening to him scream for 3 hours straight and then throwing up all over the crib the blankets and the floor, ending with sobbing himself to sleep, he would would learn. (of course then I would be crazy and living in an asylum so there would really would be no point whether he slept through the night or not)

Because this option isn't very desirable, and when in middle of the night I see my Sweet Baby James grinning at me, his dark eyes so alert, so alive, so happy, and mischievous I almost always make the same choice, tolerance for my Night Owl and his habits.
Yet, Unable to take a nap like my nightly playmate has taken it's toll on me, and my temperament. So I've started to ignore his nightly rituals and pretend to be asleep. To say the lest James does not approve.

Yet who could be pretend to be asleep when startled awake by a creepy chirping of birds at 2am, (Yes, that's the noise my alarm clock makes, the sound is straight from the Alfred Hitchcock movie "The Birds".) it's disturbing enough that it can keep me wide awake for a solid hour of night games.

But how you might ask, did James figure that out???



................Doesn't he look smug.