Kids will come up with a million ways to get into your bed at night. Sometimes, just looking at you beseechingly is enough ... sometimes nothing they do would be enough for you to make room for them between the sheets.
Don't you want to sleep in your own bed like a big girl? I ask, dreading this inevitable tug of wills. Mama's bed, she pouts. I try to be strong. I negotiate and cajole and finally, lay down the law. Bedtime or in you're in trouble -- no TV tomorrow. For Mia, the TV threat usually works. And off to dreamland, she heads.
Late this Saturday night, however, Mia woke up sick. Nothing major, just messy. And after stripping her and the bedding and dousing us both in the bathtub, we had no place left but to go to my bed. She was, in fact, awarded the one, irrefutable ticket to Mom's bed -- the Puke Visa. I wanted her there anyway to keep an eye on her. Which I did. Until she puked in my bed.
Our nomadic trek through 850 square feet of toddler territory then landed us in the living room and onto the couch where Mia moaned and sighed for a few hours before we headed back into my room for some restless sleep before dawn. I was pretty sure it was something she ate, but then her fever spiked. Now, I'm convinced that she has the rotavirus, a common kids' virus that's just enough to make me miss yet another day of work and drive my co-workers even more batty than I've already done. Nevertheless, right before she went to bed she was feeling much better and finally ate something. She desperately wanted to sleep with me, but I had work to do before I went to bed.
Thing is, this is the part of being a mom that I love. Of course, I hate it when Mia is sick. Like any parent, I can't stand to see my child in pain. But I do love having the chance be a parent. Cause I think most of the time I practice pro forma parenting. I clothe her and bathe her (sometimes) and make sure she gets from point a to b. But when you can make the person you love feel better just by wrapping your arms around them, well, then life is fairly SWEET!
So now that I've finished the writing I had to do for work, I'll get Mia and take her back to bed with me. Tonight, Mia will sleep in my room, so I can make sure she is fine. And tonight she won't have to argue her way there. Tonight, no visa is required.
