Sleep-on-your-own trysts!

Recently I've started asking Anirudh to sleep on his own although in our own bedroom and not in a separate room. And he just doesn't like the idea. Which is but obvious since he's always had me or hubby by his side when it was time to sleep. He would snuggle into us and doze off after a story or two.

So one day one excuse, another day another excuse keeps popping. One day he tried to emotionally blackmail me by saying his pet lines "Main udaas ho jayunga!" (I will get sad).

Yesterday was the most creative excuse came out. I frankly cannot call it just an excuse. It was something that scares him. And I was surprised at his vivid imagination. One may think at one point I'm talking about him being scared and at the same time I am talking about imagination? Whats got one to do with the another? Read on and it will be all so crispy clear! I will give a background before I proceed to tell the incident.

The background:
In our bedroom, I've a window in which we have an AC fitted towards the lower portion of the window. In Summers, I fold the curtain in half because we want the window covered but not the AC. The curtain belongs to the era when we didn't have an AC fitted there so its a long one.

And being the lazy me, instead of doing a temporary stitch I just pin it up using safety pins at three points - one each at the either ends and at the center to hold the fold.

Here's the picture of the curtain:


The incident:
Yesterday when I asked him to sleep on his own at night, he was making all sorts of his usual excuses - "Main udaas ho jayunga", "Mujhe aapki yaad aayegi" etc etc.

When I told him Mumma will come later after sometime, he started saying there is a monster there. When I told him there isn't, he points at the curtain on the window and says "Hai. Dekho uski eyes bhi hain!" (There is. See it has eyes also). And when I looked at the curtain I realised what he was talking about. Look at the picture above and you will also know what he meant.

See those curves where the light is coming through the curtain? They actually can be taken as big gigantic eyes by anyone who uses imagination and makes things out of nothing. I was speechless for a moment. I tired to tell him that there is no monster and even touched the curtain, moved my hand behind it. But I knew he was not satisfied. So I went ahead and unfolded the curtain. Something which I should have ideally done long ago when we stopped using the AC but being the lazy me, what more can I say :D

But I knew he won't be comfy even then and it might take a day or two for him to stop being scared of it. But I'm going to continue trying again from today onwards. He sleeps on his own at the daycare but at home, he is adamant about it. I know this will take some time but I know he will start doing it sooner than later.

Longest nap ever!

Anirudh took his longest nap ever this Sunday evening i.e on Nov 25, 2007. He slept at 5:40 PM on Sunday and woke up at 7:30 AM on Monday morning i.e Nov 26, 2007. Can you beat that? A non stop 14 hrs of sleep? And I was so worried because he has never slept this long ever that I would keep going and checking on him just to make sure he's fine. :P

He's never slept for 2 hours at a stretch even when he was an infant when I used to hear babies sleep for 4hrs at a stretch easily. And what worried me was it was soon after his trampoline rendezvous and I kept wondering if that didn't do any harm to his brain or any other internal injury. Funny parents we are..right?

And when he woke up in the morning after his kumbhakaran-nap he drank his milk without even one prodding from me or hubby. On his own, just like that! And once he had gulped down his milk, he himself asked to get his teeth brushed! Me and hubby laughed that something definitely has happened after that trampoline jumping but its for the better! Hehehehe....

But when the everyday fuss ensued over his bath, we both sighed and said "Sab waisa hi hai! No change!" (Everything is the same) and laughed again! :D

Laughing or talking in sleep?

How many of you have experienced your children laughing or talking while they are sleeping? I really get amused at Anirudh when he does that. Sometimes he will laugh, and sometimes he will talk. I remember the first time he laughed in his sleep was when he was just about 6-7 months young. I was really really amused then. But slowly I guess I got used to it and never gave much attention.

He caught my attention once again when he started saying word(s) while sleeping. And lately his talking in sleep has been quiet frequent. Earlier when he had just started talking, lot of the words seemed incoherent to me. But now anyone can understand what he is saying.

I remember a week ago, he had wanted to play with the clay which I had hidden away as we had noticed his bronchitis allergy would get aggravated whenever he would play with clay too often. But about 10 days ago when I was cleaning some stuff he found it. And since I was not giving him those, he was quite mad with me. I guess since he slept off with being angry with me, suddenly around 1 Am he wakes up and with his eyes closed started saying, "Gimme my play (clay)" in an angry tone. It took me about 2 mins to console him and make him sleep again.

And yesterday, he first giggled, then laughed out loud and then was saying words "Nahi, Bilkul Nahi!" (No, Not at all!) and then after 10 mins he again goes "No talking to you!"(he tries to imitate my sentence when I get angry with him and say "I'm not talking to you!") and then after few minutes he goes "NO!"

I don't know if I can just get amused with it and sleep or should I pay more attention to it and talk to child psychiatrist about it. Is it too young for a child of 3y 3m to be laughing or talking in his sleep and that too so often?

As of now I just smile when I hear him doing so while still in deep sleep!