Clingy boy = sleepless nights

"He's 17 months old?" she asked. "The peak of separation anxiety and clinging to mommy..."

How right this stranger was. She perused through our yard sale and moved on, not realizing that she had just clued me in to why my little man has been overly attached to me recently. With Bailey I read every website, blog, and parenting magazine I could get my hands on, not being overly obsessed about what it said, but definitely interested in learning why Bailey was going through whatever phase she seemed to be in at the time. Well, as we all know, I'm a little busier with two than one and really hadn't thought about the "technical" phase that Jake is going through.

Jake is definitely giving me a run for my money with the clinginess. I remember Bailey going through some of this, but nothing to this extreme. For the past couple of weeks it has been getting worse. While I get ready every morning, he stands at the shower door, trying to pull it open while I shower with one hand holding it closed. He proceeds to stand at my feet, pushing and pulling on me, alternately crying and squealing at me to hold him, while I dry my hair, brush my teeth, or put on my makeup. And so it goes all day. On days that I take them to daycare, he clings to me as soon as we get in the parking lot, frowning the entire way to his room, with a death grip on my shirt. Of course, the tears pour out as soon as we enter his classroom and continue until I am down the hall. It makes me feel terrible! And night time is the worst. I rock him to sleep, lay him down, and he's awake in a matter of minutes. I go back to him, try to help him fall asleep again. A repeat. Last night was as bad as it's been. I finally got him to sleep, only for him to wake up at about 11:30 and decide to stay up for about an hour. I finally put him in the bed with us. We all went to sleep. I woke up this morning with Jake on one side, Bailey on the other side, and Brad nearly falling off the bed. MISERABLE! I think maybe we are just going to give them the bed. I'd be happy to give it to the two of them and crawl into Bailey's bed each night for some peace and sleep. :)

I know one day I'll look back and laugh at this... I'll even miss my two crazy babies sleeping on top of me, or waking me up with big huge smiles and requests for cartoons. I'll try to remember that when I'm sleep-deprived and trying to find an extra inch in the bed at 6 a.m.!