"Zzzzzz"

What is it that causes a tired child to become a wild child?  When Delaney is overly tired she becomes insane.  We recently went to Dutch Wonderland and she was awake the entire hour trip up, 7 hours of park time and hour trip home.  When we got home the theme of the night was "chill out".  She was so tired, but fighting sleep every step of the way.  By 7:30 she was literally running in circles around our kitchen island bumping into cabinets and laughing a slightly psychotic laugh.  We have seen this second wind before and it usually ends in disaster (i.e. boo-boos, tears, broken toys and general destruction. 

Operation Get In Bed begins....

After a bath and a story and the requests of 700 unnecessary items in her bed (a bucket, a tiara and a firetruck to name a few), I turned out the light, turned on Laurie Berkener (our savior) and said "Goodnight!".  Then the screams began. Big, giant sobs destined to break any mother's heart.  When I return to the room Delaney tells me she can't sleep without me.  Now,  I have gotten in the toddler bed but the noises it makes when I do so are kind of scary so I lay on the floor next to the bed.  This seemed to make her happy for a few minutes.  Then, she asked me to hold her hand.  So for the next 40 minutes I laid on the floor (using a stuffed animal for a pillow), reaching my arm up over the side of the bed and held my little girls hand.  I tried to sneak out a few times, but each time her sweaty, little hand grabbed on a little tighter and she said "Please don't leave, Mommy!".   And I wouldn't.  There was no way I was letting go of my sweet little girls hand until she was ready.  At that moment, I realized just how much I love my little monkey and what an amazing bond we have.  While I am not religious, I do know that I am blessed.....and thankful!