I like sleep, so why don't the kids?

My kids have stopped sleeping. When the kids stop sleeping, we stop sleeping. (Correction: I've stopped sleeping. Jason is recovering from bronchitis, so I've taken pity on him and let him sleep.) It's not fun. I miss sleep.

The other night, Patrick came into our room at around o'dark thirty (I didn't put on my glasses to see the actual time) and asked if he could get up yet. He was unhappy when we said no.

Two nights ago, I didn't get to bed until about 1 because I was doing work. Within a minute or two of getting into bed, Kamu started saying "Mama. MaMA. MAMA!" He's like a metronome and can do it forever, or at least for as long as I can take it before going in. He has figured out that the magical word to get him out of his crib at any time is "Potty?" Finished that and went back in. "Water?" Drank some and laid back down. I stroked his head for a bit, then kissed him and headed out of the room...and he started crying. 10 minutes later, I finally got him to relax enough to go back to sleep so that I could get into bed for real.

15 minutes of calming a child is not so long. 15 minutes of calming a child when it's already 1 a.m. and you're afraid you'll fall asleep leaning on the crib is an eternity.

Last night, Kamu fell asleep pretty quickly but Patrick asked if he could read for a while. I said yes, so he got a Calvin and Hobbes book (my child has awesome taste in books!) and read in the hallway upstairs for...well, until I went up at 9 p.m. to get my slippers and found him still sitting there. Usually, he'll read for 10 or 15 minutes and then go to bed. Not so last night.

About 15 minutes later, Kamu started crying. Really crying, like scary dream crying. When I went up to get him, Patrick sat up and said "He's scared of the dark." Maybe that was it, I don't know, but I do know that Kamu could NOT be comforted in his crib last night. He pulled the same "Potty? Water?" routine from the other night, but only did it between sobs. If I stroked his head, he was OK but if I tried to leave the room, he'd start crying hard again.

Finally, I brought him downstairs to cuddle for a bit so that he wouldn't keep Patrick awake. Then Patrick came downstairs, very upset because his little brother was out of bed and he had to stay there. I persuaded Patrick back up and Kamu and I cuddled for 45 minutes or so. But he started crying again in his bed, so I gave him to Jason and they laid in our bed for a while. Jason came back downstairs and said that Kamu was going to sleep in our bed.

About an hour later, I went up to bed. Walked into the room and the first thing I heard was "Mama!" At least he was still in our bed. I laid down with him and have no idea if he fell asleep quickly because I'm ridiculously sleep-deprived at this point and fell asleep in 0.2 seconds flat. All I know is that Jason moved him back to his own bed at some point and we woke up at 7:15 a.m. when Kamu started yelling and Patrick came in to get us. Good thing, too, because I forgot to set the alarm.

Please, oh please, let my kids start sleeping again. I liked taking it forgranted that my kids slept pretty well, but won't do it again.

Next time, pictures for sure.