Visits from Suge Knight and the Shark

When we traveled down South to see the in-laws this summer, there was no place for our son to sleep, except with us.  He usually sleeps in his own crib, but we figured a week wouldn't hurt.  Of course, we were wrong about that!  It probably took us a month to undo that week and get him sleeping in his own crib again!

One compromise I made, in order to make the transition more smooth, is that I've been allowing him to nap in our bed since early summer.  Half the time I nap while he does anyway, and his typical toddler sleeping habits don't bother me as much as they do his father.  Probably something to do with growing up in a family of six kids where being mauled by errant elbows and knees and cuddled within an inch of your life was just a normal night's sleep.

I imagine when the time change happens he'll go back to his regular schedule of falling asleep in the car on the way home from the sitter's house, but in the meantime I read him stories and then we snuggle in together in my bed.  If I manage to stay awake for the twenty minutes it takes him to fall asleep, then I get up and go about my day.  At least a few times each week I wake up to the sound of my husband opening the back door and realize I've slept the afternoon away yet again.

There are a couple times I've halfheartedly tried to convince myself to get back into the habit of putting him in his crib for naptime, but the truth is, I like our afternoon routine.  He gets giggly as all get-out when he's tired and the hilarity is contagious.  Today we had the silliest conversation about -of all things!- Suge Knight and sharks.

I told him he was expecting some company this weekend: a friend of his who I'm babysitting, and his aunt and uncle.  His aunt's name starts with the "Sh" sound, so after I told him she was coming, he started to repeat it, playing with the word until eventually it came out Shug, and then, knowing he was being silly, he looked at me and asked: Shug comin'?

Suge Knight?  No way!  He's scary!  He can't come to my house!  I replied, and for some reason this was the funniest thing my boy had ever heard.  He collapsed in a fit of giggles and commenced telling me Shug Knight a comin' a you house! over and over just to hear my overblown protestations.  Shug then morphed into shark, and I continued to express my fear of a shark coming to my house, until finally I told him we had to settle down and go to sleep.

He curled up on his side, twisted his little fingers into my hair to secure two comforting fistfuls of Mommy hay-yuh, and then drifted off to sleep.  For once, I managed to stay awake, and then left him there cuddled up comfortably, likely the only person ever to drift into peaceful slumber to thoughts of Suge Knight and sharks.  Sweet dreams, my little goofball!