Mornings

Posted on | June 7, 2012 | 4 Comments

Last night, J slept the entire night in his very own bed in his very own room.

Around 5:30 this morning, Riley started yelping to go outside and as I got up to feed and let her out, I heard him stirring.  I tiptoed back to his room and peered in.

He was sitting up at the top of the bed, knees tucked to his chin, pacifier dangling from his mouth.  On his face was a mixture of sleep, worry, and confusion until he caught my eye and grinned broadly.

“Hey Mommy,” he whispered, “I missed you!”

He crawled top speed, feet over shoulders out of the bed and threw himself at me, wrapping his little arms around my legs.

“Did you sleep good?” I asked, stroking back his bed head curls.  He nodded, resting his cheek against my thigh.

“Are you ready to get up?”  My voice was soft against the still room, mixing in and around the whirr of the fan and the tick of the small blue clock.

“No,” he whispered again, staring up at me with big blue eyes.  ”I want to go to your bed and ‘nuggle.”

I smiled and scooped him up in my arms, rocking him slowly as we walked to my room. We curled up in bed, forehead to forehead, arms intertwined and he sighed happily.

“I love you, Mommy,” he closed his eyes and slowly drifted back to sleep.

I could have gone back to sleep for another hour.  I could have stolen a few more minutes of much needed rest.  I could have snuck away and wrote a blog or a chapter or done some work.  I could have gotten ready for work and enjoyed a cup of coffee.  I could have done a million things.

But instead I lay there, watching his eyelashes flutter against his cheeks, watching his pacifier slowly drop from his lips.  Instead, I watched my little boy sleep, happy and secure, safely knowing that his mommy is always there to snuggle… even after he sleeps the whole night alone, in his big boy bed.  Even after he throws the worlds largest temper tantrum… even after he hits and kicks and fights his way through the days.  Mommy will always be there to scoop him up and tuck him in. 

And so I watched him sleep, smiling to myself as I pressed my lips against his forehead and whispered soft against his ear:

“Mommy will always be right here for you, my sweet boy.”

Comments