Bumped

You could set your watch by it. The kids will be quiet all evening while we are up. But the moment our heads touch the pillow, that's when they start to make noise. It might be oliver shouting out in his sleep. Or it might be lucy crying out for no apparent reason. Often they settle in seconds and are best left to do so.

But tonight is one of those nightmare scenarios. Lucy has woken and is screaming. We pick her up, she screams for her cot. We leave her to sleep she screams at that too. We offer calpol (which she often accepts), she goes mad. We offer water, she goes mad. She's had a temperature but seems ok now.

The choice: leave her to cry herself to sleep (which is how controlled crying ends up too) or force the calpol on her. We choose the latter, using the syringe thing that comes with some of the medicines. Its an unpleasant task, but preferable to possibly leaving her in pain. We also try some Anbesol in case we've missed a new tooth. And change her (still clean) nappy.

She settles again then after 2 minutes starts to cry. We get her out and although initially calm, within a minute she's crying again.

Meanwhile Oliver is disturbed by all this racket and cries out for a few seconds. I go in to find him asleep with his hand on his face in his customary "going to sleep" fashion.

By now Lucy is in our room with the lights on. There is a suspicious lack of crying and even some laughter in this less sleepy setting. Water is also now accepted. We try to put her to bed in my place but the quilt is entirely unacceptable to her. We try her in the same spot next to mummy but in her bag on top of the quilt. After an initial protest this is accepted. I bring the Bambino heater from her room to ensure regulation temperature is maintained before gathering my things to head to the spare room for the night.

An hour after the wailing started I leave mother and baby with a kiss and a goodnight. And a reminder that once she's better i want my bed back!