3 in the Bed and the Little One Said

Every night Ellis goes to sleep in his own bed. Every night, between 1 and 3, Ellis wakes up and comes in with us. As both Kevin and I lose the ability to speak English and swallow at night, the pitter patter of little feet is almost always met with resigned acceptance. And then, there were 3 in the bed (plus 2 cats makes 5).

I will not add to the tomes about the joys of sleeping toddlers.  Yes they kick, lay sideways, and enjoy sticking cold feet on your stomach.  Yes, I have been punched in the face and witnessed first-hand the toddler nightmares of "No, NO bus" and "No, NO socks". 

What I still don't quite grasp is all of the other things that have to join us in our double bed. Ellis' first comfort toy was a 10" omelet pan.  He took it everywhere and slept with it, which of course meant bringing it into our bed in the middle of the night.  As time has gone on, we have slept with:
- The entire cast of In The Night Garden and the movie Cars
- A dinosaur
- A metal school bus
- 3 tractors
- a 4 foot long semi
- as well as countless book-obsessions of the minute and a miniature of the "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas" sign.

Of course there is also the coats and shoes that he won't take off at night...usually wellington boots and rain jackets.  Aside from making him relatively un-cuddly, the boots have been known to leave marks on his father and I. We just hope he doesn't hake up football before he starts sleeping through the night.

With all of this behind us, it shouldn't have been any surprise this morning that I woke up and noticed E had his large fire engine clutched in his small hand.

Kat: I didn't realise he'd brought the fire engine to bed with us
Kev: No, you wouldn't have. You were sleeping on the 'soft side'.  He came in and brought it into bed and rolled it up and down my back in the middle of the night
Kat: (Laughs) Ooh, that was thoughtful. That fire engine sure was good value for money...it moves, has a bell, little firemen AND is a back massager! (Note: its easy to think things are amusing when you sleep on the 'soft side')
Kev: (Glowers unappreciatively at his beautiful, smart and funny wife)

Having children certainly helps some of us cultivate an appreciation for the ridiculous...as well as an unexpected appreciation for soft, stuffed toys and animals.