Personal Space

Keilana didn’t sleep through the night until she turned two, but she was well-behaved in the evening. Unless someone tried to put her to bed. Then she would turn into a whirling wildcat with unlimited aggressive energy. Given this, I learned early on that, contrary to endless criticism, if I let her stay up until she was sleepy, she would snuggle with me when she was ready and drift off. So, when Connor came along, I mistakenly assumed it would be the same. One night when he was a month old, nothing was working. He wouldn’t sleep in the family bed, wouldn’t nurse or rock or walk to sleep, wouldn’t just give up from exhaustion. Finally, worn out, I decided to take a break, put him down, and walk away for a bit. Even if he cried hysterically, it had to be done. I walked with purpose, to steel my resolve, into the bedroom and bent to place him in his crib, braced for the guilt-inducing wails. But there was silence. The moment he touched the mattress, he stretched out his arms as if to give the bed a big hug, laid down his wee head, and fell asleep with a heavy sigh. Just like that. All he wanted was to go to bed at a decent time and be left alone. Who knew? In Claude Clement’s Go to Sleep, Little Groundhog, everyone keeps bugging the little guy to help him drift off. Maybe he just needs some alone time.

http://www.amazon.com/s?ie=UTF8&rh=i%3Astripbooks%2Cp_27%3AClaude%20Cl%C3%A9ment&field-author=Claude%20Cl%C3%A9ment&page=1

http://www.librarything.com/author/clementclaude