Jake Rules

One night last week Jake had us all up. Every last member of the household--even his great-grandma whose bedroom is two floors below the rest of our bedrooms.

It was 2AM(?) and everyone was happily sleeping until Jake woke up. He shrieked a few times. I heard him. His parents heard him. We decided to see if he'd go back to sleep on his own. Big mistake.

Jake escalated his shrieking. I broke first and went in to see what the problem was. By this time not only was Jake awake and unhappy, but Viva and Bentley were also awake.

As soon as I came into the room Bentley asked me if he could come to bed with me. (Bentley has a deal with his mom. He has to go to sleep in his own bed, but if he wakes up during the night he can come to our bed.) I told him that I had to take care of Jake first, but then I'd come back for him. Bentley did not trust me. He's discovered we adults often get sidetracked and don't always come back. He wasn't letting me leave the bedroom without him.

Kara arrived in the bedroom about then. She went over to comfort Viva. I had Jake, so I headed out the door to my bedroom with him and Bentley. Kara trailed after us with Viva trying to convince Bentley that he ought to go to bed with her instead. (She was concerned about her father's reaction to gaining two new bed companions.)

Bentley lost it and started sobbing. He didn't want to deal. He just wanted to go to bed. Mark woke up. He's not at his best in the middle of the night. He barked out some statement about being quiet or leaving. Meanwhile I'm standing there with unhappy Jake and Kara has unhappy Viva. I bark back at my spouse--"Don't you think we ALL want to sleep?!" Even Jake wanted to sleep, I'm sure.

All the children calmed down with a little extra attention and then we all went to sleep.

Jake's been going through a bad patch lately. He's had a bad head cold and he's teething. Again. He is an agonizingly slow teether. He can work for weeks on cutting a single tooth. He seldom cuts two at time. He'll be a little fussy during the day and very cranky at night until finally a tooth will pop up--and maybe disappear again for another few days. It's miserable.

Viva cuts teeth with incredible ease. No one is even aware that she is cutting teeth until a perfect little pair pop out and sprout up overnight. Then another pair and another pair. She has a nice, complete (for her age!) set of teeth.

Not so Jake. He's still working on his canines. They keep him up at night. Then he keeps us up. I trade off with his parents. Sometimes they take him to bed with them in their queen-sized bed. Sometimes I take him with me in our king-sized bed. Those extra sixteen inches of bed are important when you have a toddler or two join you!

Jake's not the best bed companion. He's usually restless and he throws his hands out inadvertently hitting you in the face. Over and over. Or he wants to play. That is so not going to happen in the middle of the night. Not even I, the grandma, indulge that wish.

The next night Jake slept straight through the entire night without waking. HOORAY! The following night was another bad night. I went and got Jake from his crib when he started shrieking. He was quiet for a while (his mom brought him a bottle), but then he started his arm flailing. It was Saturday night which is the one night a week Bentley is allowed to go to sleep in our bed. So who do you think Jake hit in the face? Bentley sat straight up, rotated 90 degree and flung himself across his opa. I'm not sure he even woke up--it was an unconscious, defensive move.

Unfortunately Bentley is too tall to sleep perpendicular to us (a king-sized bed isn't that big!), so I had to move him back to his original position next to Jake. Then I moved Jake to the bottom of the bed between our feet. He couldn't roll off and he couldn't hit anyone in the face. Brilliant! I should have figured this out weeks ago. After Jake was deep asleep, I slipped him back into his bed.

Sometimes when I think Jake's asleep, I get up to take him back to his bed and his little eyes pop open. If I take too many steps towards the door he starts protesting. Loudly. He's a sharp one. It's a good thing I totally feel for him and his teething problems. I HATE TEETH PROBLEMS.

His mom's not nearly as sympathetic as I am. She thinks he should toughen up. At 19 months?! This is why children need their grandmas. Parents can be so harsh. It's a parent's job to prepare their children for the cold, cruel world. Grandparents are helpful to cushion the process--make it a little easier for child and parent. Especially at 2AM.