"All Done"

When it's time for Greyson to take a nap or go down for the night, he is more than happy to oblige. That is, as long as he has his blue blankie (boo) and paci (pa-pa).



Once Greyson awakes from dreamland, he knows that his "lovies" do not leave the crib. While he will gladly leave them behind, he always tries to make the escape with paci in mouth and blue blankie in hand. With a smirk on my face and raised eyebrows, I slightly cock my head to the right and ask, "Are you all done napping?" He knows that is his cue to quickly do away with both lovies if he's planning on seeing the other side of those bars! Ninety-five percent of the time that's exactly what he does. Every so often he needs a little more alone time with his lovies, so I just leave him in his crib and close the door behind me until he's ready to make the separation...usually about 5 minutes.



Very early this morning at 4:00 AM, my sleep was abruptly interrupted by Greyson crying. It was still pitch black outside and I had been asleep only three and a half hours. Once I realized Chad "couldn't hear him," I staggered my way toward his room and flipped on the hall light hoping not to blind either one of us. Seeing as how Greyson does not get up until at least 7:30 AM, what I had planned to see when I opened the door was my child looking just as disheveled as me, frantically searching for his paci so that he could fall back asleep without knowing he was ever awake! To my surprise, he was standing up in his crib with paci in mouth and blue blankie in hand. He instantly stopped crying and it was obvious that he was delighted to see me. That precious little cheeky grin, visible even with his paci, told me that I might not be heading back to bed as quickly as I had hoped.





As I approached Greyson's crib, he let go of his blue blankie with one hand, pulled the paci from his mouth and threw it to the mattress with the other and said, "All done!" The dos and don'ts of parenting went out the window at that very moment. All that mattered was that my cute, sweet, adorable little boy was all done! He was ready to get up and start his day. He wasn't even going to attempt to take blue blankie and paci to the other side. So do you know what I did? I picked him up and we went downstairs to eat an early morning snack! He had a banana and I had a cinnamon roll. As tired as I was, I enjoyed those 10 minutes that we spent together snacking under the microwave night light before heading back to bed. Sometimes as parents we just have to take advantage of those priceless moments and enjoy them to the fullest.