Crying Game

Eva has another cold and is quite congested.  She woke up in the middle of the night, screaming like Death himself was standing over her crib.  Michael and I both awoke to her cries but each pretended like we were still asleep, hoping the other guy would offer to take care of her.  We laid there for a few moments until the shrieking had grown so loud, neither one of us could act like we hadn’t heard it.  A brief discussion ensued where we each hinted at the obvious fact that we wanted the other parent to handle it.  I even threw in that I was getting up earlier and deserved more sleep.  No luck.  Michael is a shrewd Chicken-player and I ended up caving first. 

Michael had taken care of her the previous night and I felt guilty making him do it again.  I dragged my sorry butt out of my warm bed, stumbled around a bit, and took off my wrist braces on the way to Eva’s room. (I suffer from a bit of carpel tunnel and find the braces help me function throughout the day.  I should mention that sleeping in wrist braces is sexy, NOT nerdy.)  I handled the situation and a few minutes later I was back in bed.  Here’s where the problem arises: I have a hard time falling asleep.  It takes me a long time to doze off when I first get into bed, and if I’m interrupted once I am asleep, it takes even longer to find the ZZZ’s.  Not Michael.  He’s asleep the moment his head hits the pillow.  All the time.  Interruptions or not. 

So there he was, sleeping away while I began the ritual of tossing and turning and trying to breathe soothingly.  I then realized that when Michael took care of Eva the previous night, he was already awake.  He was working late and didn’t have to get out of bed or feel the rush of cold air when the blankets were lifted.  He didn’t have to stumble around waiting for his eyes to adjust to the light or wrestle with his wrist braces.  He didn’t have to come back to bed and blink at the ceiling for an hour.  He just had to stand up from his computer and walk up the stairs.  I stewed over this for a while, but finally I realized it was selfish of me to discount that Michael had taken care of her the night before.  I had been able to stay in bed and sleep.  He had to stop what he was working on and lose his train of thought.  He even had to climb the stairs to get to Eva’s room.  It was only fair that I get up with her this time. 

Sill, I was really irritated.  It took all of my self-control not to punch him in the face and say it was an accident.

It’s tough being an adult.