Since we stopped swaddling Kaylee for sleep (around 5 months?) her favorite comfort object has been my elbow. She pinches the loose skin, rubbing it between her fingers, to fall asleep. There have been many nights in the past three years when I've had to tell her, "no more elbow tonight!" because it's been rubbed raw, or I'd just had too much. But, it's always been part of the routine. Whether we're laying down in bed, getting ready to sleep, or she's just sitting in my lap and feeling a need for some mommy-comfort, or even in some very awkward positions where I need to get my elbow into her reach while she's in her car seat, it's been part of how she relaxes and falls asleep. In the past year, as there have been more nights when we put in her in her bed before she's asleep and she has to soothe herself, she's learned to pinch her own elbow, but she generally still prefers mine. Daddy's is an okay second. And she'll pinch a babysitter's, if absolutely necessary. And even as she's learned to comfort herself with her elbow, she's still had time in bed with me while we read stories or do our 10 minutes of snuggling (okay, sometimes it's an hour or two) before we move her to her bed, and during that time, she's still pinching my elbow.
The past two weeks, though, our schedule has been easier on the days she doesn't nap. Pick her up from school at 2:30, bike ride home, snack, play, dinner, bath, etc... it's just easier not to try and fit in a nap. So, by 8, when it's bedtime (instead of the 11pm/midnight bedtime that happens after a nap), she crashes. Falls asleep during the stories, or just a few minutes after we turn off the light.
And now my elbow is feeling lonely. It's as though my comfort object has been taken away...
There have already been a few other moments of "oh, it'll just never be like that again" as I've experienced my child growing up. And I know the feeling will go away. But I'm a little sad that she doesn't need my elbow any more.
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