It’s hot here. Really, really hot. And since it so rarely gets this hot in the Bay Area, no one has air conditioning. Or a fan. Or any way to deal with the heat except to sit and roast. In the past, I’ve been grateful for days like this when we can pretend we live in a place with a real summer. And Dave and I can take a rare evening walk along the lake without bundling up in sweaters and scarves. But with Zekey in our lives, all is changed.
He actually went to bed very nicely at 8:30pm – no screaming, hardly any fussing. And even though I know I should have gone to bed early, instead I took the opportunity to eat a leisurely dinner, take a long shower, do some much needed preening, and read for awhile. And of course, about five minutes after I finally fell asleep, the little guy woke up, around 12:30am. Fine. I sort of expected that. Generally, when Z wakes up in the night, Dave changes his diaper, I feed him, and he goes back to sleep relatively quickly. The whole process takes about an hour.
Not so last night. Dave changed his diaper and had to change his clothes as well since he was wet – either from pee or sweat – we’re not sure. He brought Zeke back into bed with eyes wide open, wriggling around like a lunatic. He ate like he’s never had the boob before – tearing and gnawing at me, arms and legs flailing. This was not entirely comfortable (plus I was sweating like crazy with that little furnace next to my skin), so as soon as I thought he was done, I took him off and put him back in the co-sleeper. (If I didn’t take him off he would just hang there for who knows how long.) Now the fun begins.
Little dude would not go back to sleep. For three hours, Dave and I took turns walking him, bouncing him, shushing him, feeding him, rocking him, swaddling him, unswaddling him, changing him, feeding him again. By 3am I was completely exhausted and wide awake at the same time. And I was starving. And it was still so hot. Not knowing what else to do, I plunked a still crying little Z on the bed (not hard enough to do him any harm but harder than I should have), went to the kitchen, and ate a cantaloupe.
I’m not quite sure what happened after that. Presumably either Dave or I finally got Z to sleep and we also slept until he woke again at 5:45am. Now, I understand there will be nights like this, but what I would like to know is whether it was the heat, or whether this is a lovely new pattern we’re trying out for awhile. If it’s the latter, I’m going to have to stock up on late night snacks.
Wonderfully vivid post! Daisy was born during a crazy heat wave in San Francisco, so this stirs some memories for sure. Let’s hope this night was an anomaly caused by the discomfort of the heat wave. Don’t worry, Zekey– this will not be the usual weather for you.