Sleep, please

Olive woke up crying at 3:30am this morning. I went into her room, patted her back, fulfilled her demand for "more water", and left. She kept fussing and started crying again about 20 minutes later.

Back in her room, patted her back, told her we needed to go back to sleep. Answered "yes" to her statements of "Daddy sleeping", and "Nighttime". I answered, "I wish" to "Mommy sleeping, too!". I answered "no" to "downstairs now" and "watch Gabba!". I left, and she started crying almost immediately.

Back for round 3, a little frustrated. She has a bit of a cold so I thought maybe she wasn't feeling well. "Does something hurt?" I asked. "Yes". "What hurts?". Silence. "Olive, does something hurt?". A tiny arm emerged from the blanket and patted her behind, "bum hurting". Hmmm. I think she just felt like she should answer my question. "Offa go potty". ** Nothing like a 4am trip to the potty. On with what seems to be the brightest light in the world, off with the sleep sack, off with the footie jammies, off with the pull up. What I had left was a naked little girl shivering on the potty. "Blanket on". OK, wrapped a bath towel around her and sat on the bathroom floor waiting for some potty action.

She did go, but I'm not sure that was why she was crying. In fact, I'm almost positive it is NOT the reason. I think she couldn't sleep, and she is smart enough to know that telling me she needs to use the potty is something I never say no to, not even at 4am.

Let's hope for more sleep tonight. Please.

Claire


**If you don't know, Offa is what Olive calls herself. It will be important to know that if you intend on reading what she has to say!