First, a confession: Zane still sleeps with me. There. I said it. I'll give you a couple of seconds to regain composure after the apoplexy. All better now? Okay, moving on.
Now the stellar bit of parenting: I let my son sleep in a puddle of his own wet last night. And when I say puddle of wet, I mean of sopping circle of pee with a diameter longer than my wee lad's body.
Zane and I entertained company for supper last night. One of my best girlfriends is going through a very rough time with her fiance. Something about a pre-nup negotiation going bad, and threats of leaving before the wedding even happens. On top of that, we both needed to vent about the new team of Junior Leaguers who seem determined to run our legacy into the ground. Plus, PG is on a 10-day movie shoot in LA and I've been feeling a lot lonely. When I added all those things in my head, I had a very good reason to throw an impromptu dinner party a deux, with all of our shared favorites: creamy tomato bisque soup; salad of baby lettuces with tarragon dressing; rosemary & parmesan cheese straws; a selection of Norman Love chocolates; and wine. Because, really, no girls' night is complete without at least one bottle of really good wine.
The little soiree went off beautifully. We laughed, we vented, we gossiped and, most of all, we drank a whole bottle of chardonnay. We said good night at 11:30pm, and I went straight to bed to snuggle with my little Z.
At 3:30am, Zane woke up crying. That is not typical for him; still, he settled back into sleep with a little cajoling from me. He awakened again at 4:00am, crying, but he settled back into sleep. Again for another 30 minutes. We repeated that routine until 5:30am when I picked him up to lay him on my chest. It was then that I discovered the puddle, and I remembered that I had not changed Z's diaper after feeding him at 10:00pm. Oooops! No wonder he had been crying. I'd cry, too, if my mama kept putting me back to sleep on a pee-soaked spot.
Not willing to sacrifice the possibility of two more hours sleep, and truly terrified of the boogeyman that inhabits the dark expanse between my locked bedroom and Z's nursery when PG is out of town, I pulled the wet PJs off my precious boy and changed his diaper from the stash I keep in the linen closet in my bathroom. I didn't have an extra set of PJs in the linen closet; and I couldn't be bothered to remember the stack of clean laundry on the cedar chest. I only wanted to get back into the bed and claim my two additional hours of sleep. Apparently, so did little Z. His half-naked little body went limp the instant we laid back down.
THREE hours later I was treated to smiles and giggles and coos - the puddle of wet a distant, repressed memory. Whew. That was close.
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5 comments:
I take a break from my usual finger pointing to say, as a Mama who also spends long stretches alone with kids, whatever works for you. Co-sleeping isn't my bag, but hey, if it makes your life easier, go for it.
I also can't say how many times before my girls learned to say, "it's my diaper" that it didn't occur to me in the middle of the night. In fact, the only reason I changed Lindsay's at 6 AM when I scooted her back out of my bed was because she said, "Mama, change diaper!" with a deployed gel pack.
The only weensy suggestion I'd make is having a stash on your bureau of diapers and jammies might help...but, hey, I can totally relate to all preparedness going out the window after a couple of glasses of chardonnay...
I leave the point scoring up to the other Mamas...
@Lady E: yeah, that's the point. Normally, when PG is out of town and my terror of the boogeyman sets in, I have plenty of supplies at the ready in my bedroom. But, last night, wine interfered with both my normal preparation AND my cognitive ability to remember the clean clothes atop my cedar chest. Oh well, what the hey? It was a fun girls' night in. :)
Do you live in the Arctic? Because, despite my best efforts to put them in pajamas, both of my boys end up either starkers or in just a diaper by the end of the night...
No points for confessing to co-sleeping or nude sleeping. Unless you were sleeping nude as well, in which case I might reconsider on the sheer CPS potential...
See me about points for co-sleeping when he's ten. I am willing to award +1 WMP for the pee-puddle, though, because two hours? EEEEW.
I thought about awarding Lady E. a point for not changing her kid's diaper until the kid could say "Mama, change diaper," but then I thought if the kid is old enough to ask for it, she's probably also old enough to do it herself and a true Worst Mama would at least have her try.
@Karen, half the time, she takes it off anyway. If only she could either learn to put the new one on or use the potty...
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