The Bed Delimma

I have lost my sense of self! I have no idea where I end any longer and Kiernan begins. How? Let me tell you how.

Recently, Kiernan has developed the habit of waking in the middle of the night. Now that he is older, and no longer sleeping in a crib, that means he will get out of bed and come to our bed. I know there are mixed feelings out there about the family bed. I will say right now I am not a big proponent of it once the child is beyond infancy. There's a good reason for that though.

Kiernan is a bed hog. One would not think that a small 2 1/2 year old could possibly take up much room in a king sized bed, but I cannot begin to express how incorrect this opinion is! That boy could take up the entire bed himself if given half a chance. Forget the fact there are already two adult people in it, he has his ways of manipulating us, even in his sleep so that he can consume as much of the bed as he desires.

Often times Beosig will complain that Kiernan kicked him in the family jewels during the night, sometimes multiple times, in the midst of his thrashing about. The kid will kick covers the off, no need to sit up and pull them back when you flail your limbs about half-hazardly the covers magically disappear. As a side effect of the aforementioned action, a nice gap in the bed is provided as none of the nearby adults care to be within kicking range of those little feet! Kiernan will make the most of this new gap and turn as sideways as possible to fill it. If he feels cramped, repeat said kicking motion at whatever is in the way. Kidneys, ribs, face, it's all good!

Another drawback to sharing our bed with Kiernan is that he loves to play with my hair. ALL. THE. TIME. It is amazing that I am not bald by now as much as he pulls on it at night or runs his fingers through it. Granted, I did not discourage it when he began this obsession with my hair as an infant. At the time it was cute, almost soothing for both himself and me as he nursed. Looking back I almost wish I had discouraged it then, as it wouldn't be an issue now. This kid will play with my hair while he is falling asleep and even while he is asleep. It drives me insane!

We decided to go buy Kiernan a "big boy bed" in the hopes that having a more comfortable bed to sleep in would make a difference. It's bought us another 2-3 hours a night is all. I guess that's closer to the ideal time, but still not perfect. We've tried turning the ceiling fan in his room on thinking it was too hot, we've tried leaving it off thinking he got too cold. We've tried turning on a nightlight thinking he got scared because his room is rearranged and it's dark, we've tried leaving said nightlight off. We've even taken turns going downstairs when he wakes to lay down with him until he goes back to sleep, sometimes falling asleep ourselves. All this to no avail. He seems unable, or unwilling, to tell us what is waking him up at night and without knowing that we can only guess. My latest guess is that he is going through another growth spurt or that he simply gets lonely at night. Although we did put the largest stuffed animal he has - Sully from Monsters Inc. - in bed with him to see if that helped, but no luck.

It used to be that Kiernan would sleep through the night, every night. Unless he was sick, which is an acceptable excuse. Now, he sleeps a few hours in his bed then comes upstairs to join us. I feel as if I have no time alone to recover from the clingyness of this child. I actually went and slept in the guest room one night to have some time to myself. I think it was the most wonderful feeling in the world. Is it sad that I want to go away for a weekend just to not have bodily contact all night long with my own child? That's where I'm at...on the way to insanity!