December 29, 2009

Treasured Time

After going to bed easily for months, Noah started struggling with bedtime. He would fuss, throw fits, and cry for a long time. Since he was about 3 months old, we simply laid him down, tucked him in, and said "night, night" until The Change.

The crying was such a change from his usual cheerful self that I began to dread bedtime. I tried to figure out if he was overtired, not tired enough, suddenly afraid of the dark, too warm, too cold, anything I could think of to explain his change of behavior. When we held him to comfort him, he would settle down but as soon as he was placed back in bed, the crying resumed. So we waited it out. Tensely. Prayerfully.

I'm not sure when things changed but eventually we worked out a new routine. After prayers with all the boys, John or I take Noah to his room and have some snuggle time in the rocking chair. Some nights we skip it and Noah does fine with that. Some nights I feel like rushing. But most nights I treasure the extra cuddles. We sing songs together and hug while we rock.

"Dear Jesus,
Please protect my child through the night
Keep him healthy
Keep him breathing right
Give him sweet dreams
Guard him from fear
Hold him close when I can't be near
Amen."

My baby is already two years old; I don't know how many more nights he will want to snuggle. Children are so precious and they grow up so fast.

And so I practice slowing down and cherishing the moments I have.

3 comments:

Bethany said...

It's true. My "baby" is three (pushing four)and I often have to remind myself to stop and cherish these moments. It's so easy to get caught up in our routine or "grown-up" things that we forget that these moments are fleeting.

Busted Kate said...

I am in love with that prayer, its beautiful. And so are you, my dear! I've added you to my blog roll too!

Marie said...

Like Bethany said, I find it hard to slow down sometimes but then my little guy makes that face. I'll bet Noah has the face too. That angelic look....