The Child Who Would Sleep

I very seldom put The Goblin Child to bed. This dawned on me one evening during corn harvest when my farmer husband was out late into the night in his beloved combine and it was up to me to get the child down. Don’t get me wrong I put her down for her naps all day, it’s just in the evening that he takes over the role. Father daughter time and all that. Not that she is usually hard to get down but I tried one other time recently and wound up with a screaming, wide awake baby until her devoted father came home and rescued her from me. He had her asleep in minutes and gave me exact instructions on the procedure.

I believe that a little apprehension on my behalf was understandable. With diaper changed and pajamas on we sat in her darkened room, the hum of rain from her noise maker droning softly in the background. I read her a book maybe sang a song or two. She cuddled in close, then began to spin in circles on my lap. Around she would go then sit sprawled against me for a moment then spin again.

I was at a loss. My child expert husband had not said anything about this in his instructions. Then she looked back at me, I swear in exasperation, and pointed at her crib. Dumbfounded I carried her over to it and asked her what it was that she wanted.  Pointing at the crib again she said dat. I laid her down and she smiled contentedly at me as I left the room.

I had to go outside last night around bed time. When I left the house she was running about, playing happily. Outside for only minutes, I came in to find no child in sight. Her baffled father explained that she had pointed to and banged on the door to her room asking to please be put to bed,  not her exact words, that would have been impressive.

It is nice to have a child that wants to go to bed with out having to fight. Hopefully this is a long lived trend.