Joshua frequently climbs into bed with us at night, but most nights he times it well, and I am still too out of it (thanks to my new BFF Ambien) to do anything about it. Bobby is a hard sleeper and many times doesn’t even wake up for the blessed event at all. In the morning, he has consequences – no Hot Wheels, no computer, no racing games with Daddy – whichever seems most important to him at the time.
And while I’ll admit that I would prefer Joshua stay in his own bed all night (I mean really, we have a full-size bed, and what happens is that Bobby and I either both get about 4 inches of it each to sleep on and/or we wake up with a foot in our face), I will be sad when he doesn’t want to do it anymore. When he is too big to want the comfort of falling asleep with his head on his mama’s back, I will feel a loss.
Which is why last night, when Joshua came in our room at 10:37, and I was still wide awake, and Bobby had just gone downstairs to do a few chores before bed, I just patted the space next to me and bid him come. And as he wallowed all over me until he finally got comfortable with his arm flung possessively over my shoulders and his head buried in my back, I thought, Oh, how I want him to love me like this forever!
I listened to his breathing as he relaxed and fell asleep, his warm little body practically fused with mine, and I savored every second until I too slept.
And when I woke up at four a.m. perilously perched on four inches of the bed with a foot in my face, I felt remarkably more cheerful about it than I usually do when I shoved him over to reclaim some space.
And I thought, I sure am a lucky mama.
