Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Patrick's Puppy (or how a toy is saving my sanity!)

Photo from Amazon
When this dog arrived as a Christmas present for Patrick I didn't give him much thought.  I thought it was cute as I squeezed it's paw and it began to play music but it was a toy amid a pile of toys and it wasn't until this past week that I realized that it is quite possibly the best toy in the history of toys, at least for our Patch.

You see, in the past six years I don't think there's ever been a single toy that has accomplished the super (almost) miraculous task of letting the rest of us sleep more while entertaining a child who's still waking at night.
Last month Patrick went from sleeping through the night or only waking up once or twice to waking up every single hour and screaming his head off to nurse. He wouldn't fall asleep in the big bed, he'd try to get up and play.  He'd close his eyes the instant he was back in his crib, but within sixty minutes he was screaming again.

It was exhausting.

Then I moved his Christmas Dog upstairs and my life was transformed.  I would hear Patch wake up but instead of calling for me he'd start to talk to his dog.  The dog would sing and talk and I would brace myself for the screaming demands that Patrick was practically starving to death in his crib, but they never came.  Eventually the singing would stop and they would both be asleep again.

Patrick has a half dozen light up singing toys in his crib, but this one is the one that makes all the difference.  When I put him down for bed now he gets a sneaky little smile on his face as he pretends to go to sleep, and then I hear his dog start to talk as I close the door to leave his room.  In the mornings I hear his dog singing in his room (and he's started sleeping a full two hours later than he was pre-Christmas Dog!).  And throughout the night periodically I'll hear his puppy talking followed by silence as he goes back to sleep.

Yes, Patrick's Puppy is definitely a life saver these days.  Who'd have thought a toy that looks so bright and busy would actually help the rest of us get a little more sleep?

2 comments:

  1. We have that dog in the attic. I am so glad that you can sleep now. Jake has a "nuggle nuggle" or blankie. He LOVES it.

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  2. Ben had this dog when he was a bit younger (around Patrick's age) and it was his favorite toy. He would play with it for long periods of time, just fascinated. I don't think my daughter ever put him to bed with it... perhaps she should have! Will tell her to keep that in mind for #2 in case he turns out to be as poor a sleeper as Ben was.

    Grandson #2, Gabe, has a teddy bear from FAO Schwarz (they call him "FAO", pronounced "Fow", which just tickled me) that he takes to bed and cuddles, thank God. Ben has a Curious George and a soft blanket that seem to help now, at least most of the time.

    Marie

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