During the past week or so Abbie has been waking up really upset about once per night. Out of nowhere she'll scream out and not be able to calm herself down. From what I've read, this is a symptom of separation anxiety; she wakes up in her room all alone, gets freaked out, and needs Mommy or Daddy to help her get control of her overwhelming emotions.
This scenario played itself out, once again, this morning around 3:00am. At first Matt got up to comfort Abbie while I dashed to the bathroom. But the cries kept coming. (Usually Matt can calm her down so she can go back to sleep...but not last night.) So I decided to go in and give it a go. I scooped up my little baby (who had stopped crying, but was doing the uncontrolled spastic sniffling that inevitably leads back to sobbing), pressed play to re-start her favorite sleepy time CD, and sat down on the glider. I tucked her as close to me as I possibly could and we started to play with our hands--clapping, waving... and she started to calm down. Then the most precious thing happened. She grabbed onto my fingers with both her hands and just clung on for dear life. We stayed like that for a long time. I loved holding her so close to me, feeling her soft baby skin against my cheek. She was so quiet, so still. All she needed was to know that Mommy was there. What an awesome privilege! When her eyes finally got droopy and she started to squirm, I knew she was ready to lay back down in her crib. I tucked her in, kissed her good night, and didn't hear another peep. Moments like that are my favorite part of being a mommy :-)
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4 comments:
Oh my goodness, Kat. This had me bawling, because I know EXACTLY what you mean.
As much as I hate dragging my butt out of bed for any reason =), there is someithing super special about conforting a little one in the middle of the night. Just knowing that your (or your husband)are the only ones who can make it all better is pretty cool.
Aww, how sweet! I can't wait to be able to do that to my little one :) (even though I will not like getting out of bed at that hour!)
this is so sweet and hallmark-y :)
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