Waking Up

My two year old daughter loves to pretend she’s asleep and then suddenly sit up and gasp for air while her arms are up in the air. That’s her idea of waking up I guess. It’s a little unnerving when you first experience her pretend wake-up because it comes off as someone who is coming up for air after being under water a few seconds too long. She still wakes up through the night (2-3 times most nights) and visits us each time she wakes, always upset (we’re working on this still). Waking up in a dark room (with a wee bit of night light) isn’t the most pleasant way to wake up I suppose. We haven’t quite mastered the art of rolling over and going back to sleep just yet. OK, but then there is the wake-up from her afternoon nap. She emerges from her room, hair waving in every direction, and she makes two choices: (1) Who’s lap she’ll sit in to help her wake up – Mom or Dad – (the other is shunned for a good 10-20 minutes), and; (2) Whether she’ll be in a good mood or not. Even the slightest thing you say to her, like “Hi Cadie!,” could cause her lower lip to turn down. You have to walk a fine line of not being too loud and too much, and not completely ignoring her either. Waking up is hard to do.