Monday, September 14, 2009

Sleepy Time Potty

So...there is this magical hour where I wake Samuel up and cruely force him to sit on his potty, stationed next to his bed, to avoid middle of the night accidents. It is usually around 10pm to 10:30pm where I enforce this terrible motherly punishment. Samuel has been asleep for around 3 hours at this point, just enough time for him to be in a very deep sleep.

Now if I was a nice mother, I would let my sweet peaceful child slumber away at will. But...I'm not. I am selfish and heartless and wish to avoid waking up at 2:30 or 4am and hear, "Mommy! Moooommmmy! MOMMMYYYY!" And so, I creep into the dark, quiet room, with the hall light blazing in the backround (just for cruel effect, of course) and I peel back the covers from the warm, slumbering body. I whisper his name and tell him it's time to go potty and then after rubbing his arms and making him stir, I sit him up. Sometimes, like tonight, he's like a bobble head with his eyes closed tight and he tries to lay back down. But as part of my nightly torture, I lift him out of bed, gingerly set him on his feet, and prepare him to sit on the potty.

He has gotten used to it, in his sub-conscious, and usually goes fairly quickly, longing for his now-cooling bed, giraffees and faint remembrances of Thomas the Train dreams.

Let me paint you a picture of tonight, however. Tonight I am certain that he did not crack open his sleepy eyes to see who was so rudely interrupting (or "interning" as S said tonight) his precious sleep. I quickly checked on Zakkai, who was sucking gently on his little finger in sweet ignorant bliss and turned around to see Samuel weaving and swaying dangerously on his little potty that is all of a foot and a half off the ground. I hurried over and placed an arm on his back, just in case he lost the battle and decided to sleep on the ground (which he may or may not have done recently.) He immediately laid his head on my shoulder and softly wrapped his skinny chicken arms around my neck for a moment before remembering where he was. On the potty. In the middle of the night. With his cruel mommy.

His head bobbled forward and back as he tried desperately to stay awake...or fall asleep, depending on which way you look at it! "Mommy," he faintly whispered through slitted lips, "Mommy, don' have...to...go...." But I knew that if I relented, I would be back in that room in an hour changing sheets and jammies, resembling a bobble-head myself and so I steeled my back and kept whispering like a siren, "Just go potty and you can go right back to sleep." Over and over...

Now in the midst of this, I most certainly did not sneak out of the room and look for my camera, hoping to snap a quick picture of Samuel with his mouth hanging open, head tilted back, sleeping while trying to pee. Because I wouldn't do that! First of all, Samuel's eyes might of jerked open if he had caught the light glinting off of the silver camera in the pitch black of his room and he might of stared at me curiously through a sleepy haze, wondering why his mother was thinking of taking pictures at a time like this!!!

I would not do that! Ahem. So finally after 10 minutes of sending potty prayers his way, he finally gave in and went potty, stumbling back into bed and falling asleep before the door even closed.

And I closed the door, I just might of caught a glimpse of a silvery object beckoning me from the floor and snatched it up, putting it in a safe place, hoping that Samuel thinks this was all one long dream and that I am just a nice normal mother. Because I am. Really...

1 comment:

Angela Kim said...

oh my gosh, heidi. you are hilarious.
I plan to go the pull-up route for as long as it takes. You are committed and determined :) I admire you!

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