A Mommy Blog About Raising Men, Not Boys.
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Saturday, May 04, 2013

Snuggletime Roulette

I guess you officially call it attachment parenting. I don't even care. I kind of thumb my nose at the term and call it stupid hippie crap. Everyone parents differently. What works for me doesn't work for you, and so on. If attachment parenting includes the fact that I love to sleep with my kids then yeah, guilty as charged.

My Children 

The challenge then becomes the logistics of four snugglers and one mother. 

The girl child has it easy. I'm not ashamed to admit she still sleeps with me. We go to bed together, and we read stories by the light on my iPhone, and make shadow puppets on the wall (mostly bunnies and dinosaurs RAWR). Eventually we settle down into ONE last drink, and some cudly kisses and we're asleep. If I don't move her shortly thereafter, her daddy moves her when he comes to bed. She usually returns some time in the 5 am hour. Toddles back to bed, taps me on the arm and says "mommysnuggle" which is all one word if you're doing it right.
Sand table !
Usually, like today, Miles shows up about 6 or 7am. He rests a hand on my arm if the girl is in his spot. I will move her to her toddler bed and then it's snuggling with Miles and Mommy. Usually though, unless it's VERY early, Miles is UP for the day. He indulges me in some cuddling and kisses, and then as I drift back to sleep he pulls a book out of nowhere and sits and reads. Sometimes he brings two or three books and piles them on me. I don't even care.
Worst Puppet Ever
Charlie is the X Factor. Some mornings, he beats Miles to the snuggle spot. However Charlie can rarely be quiet, so he giggles and carries on until mom gets up. Or he comes in, once Miles is in the snuggling spot, and asks for drinnks of water, and hops around the room making various noises.Today I decided at 7:30 am that I wasn't getting more sleep and that coffee and writing were calling, so here I am. When I got up, Charlie spent a full 10 minutes on my lap hugging and cuddling like a little tiny boy. Have I mentioned that he is not a little tiny boy? He's giant.

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It is my sweet Lou that gets the shortest stick in terms of cuddles these days. He admittedly spent the most number of years tucked under my right arm but most nights, I make him go to his own bed. Last night he wanted so badly to sleep with me and Julia. I made him a deal that he can sleep with us tomorrow and that appeased him. But I know as well as anyone else that he's at the age that he really doesn't need to be sleeping with me.

So I transitioned it as a treat, like a sleepover, fun and cuddles once in a while and most of the time he sleeps in his own bed.

People will say things like "You'll never get them out of your bed." Really? They gonna go off to college and come home to sleep in my bed every night?

I won't ever get these days of childhood back, nor will my children. I will never regret one night of elbows in my back or someones little head laying on mine like it's a pillow. When I die, if they only thing anyone ever has to say about me is that I gave my children years worth of cuddles, then I'm ok with that.

I will never apologize for our snuggletime roulette. It's one of the best things ever.


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