We have gotten into a nice night time rhythm with each other. We read stories on the chair where I once feed you – back then you were a tiny little dot on the 1st percentile with a big mass of red curls. Now you’re pretty much the same but on the 50th percentile.
After 3 or 4 books, I insist it is bedtime and you insist it isn’t. Generally, all it takes is me turning off the light and putting on Portishead or Simon and Garfunkel or Leonard Cohen and you lie down and chill out to the music.
Sometimes though, you put up a better fight and your beautiful stubbornness champions your cause. Your disarmingly blue eyes freeze over and sometimes, I swear you pierce my heart with a touch of ice for a moment.
The Night King has nothing on you sister!
But eventually, you lie down and I rock in the old feeding chair – willing you to sleep as though I had you curled up on my chest – and not beside me in your own bed surrounded by a dozen of your best friends. Tonight Pig, Bear, Monkey and Rabbit have pride of place.
I enjoy a moment of quiet, either knitting or writing about this and that. You softly sing Baby Shark or Twinkle Twinkle Little Star as your little eyes close and you slip into a restful sleep.
Have a calm and pleasant night’s sleep my precious little girl – and for the love of your mother’s tenuous sanity – stay in your own bed tonight!
Doodles of My Brain 