Everything Looks Better After a Good Night's Sleep

Isn't that the truth?! After a marathon of nights filled with broken sleep, I went to bed around 10:30 last night and did not wake up until my alarm sounded at 6:45 a.m. (yes, I treated myself to an extra 45 minutes this morning), and boy did I feel good!

Some of you have heard the story of Sawyer's nocturnal ramblings, but he's taken them to a whole new level lately. He used to stick to night terrors that, while a little nerve-wracking, were at least familiar to me since Tyler used to suffer from them as well. Now Sawyer has moved on to become your garden variety sleep-talker, but he typically only talks in his sleep in conjunction with a bad dream he's having. And boy does he have a lot of bad dreams!

You've heard the old wives' tale (I sure hope it's just a tale!) that you're never to wake a person in the middle of a bad dream; I'm not sure I buy the logic or even understand it, and I sure don't follow it! I've tried soothing Sawyer out of his dream, I've tried moving him, I've tried talking him through it--the key is I've got to do something that makes him "snap out of it." Randy and I finally discovered that water does the trick, so now when he has a bad dream we just douse him with a glass of water and go back to bed.

Did you really believe that last sentence? How barbaric do you think we are??? Seriously, though, I've found that if I can get Sawyer to accept a cup of water (and actually drink it), it's literally like watching a person come out of a hypnotic trance--"Hey Mom, what are you doing here?" And he never has any recollection of his dreams or his ravings.

Unfortunately, with the exception (I think) of one night while on vacation, Sawyer went through his little routine, which was a bummer because I always hate the idea that he might be waking others (he wasn't, as it turned out). And one night I had absolutely no success in getting Sawyer to wake up from his dream so Randy came to the rescue and carted him off to the bathroom; when he brought Sawyer back and I held him in my arms I could feel that the sides of his hair were wet and Sawyer, in a somewhat bemused tone, said, "Mom, Daddy poured water on my head!" What can I say, desperate times call for desperate measures!