You know the old saying “When the cats away, the mice will play!”

That is the best part about my husband going away for work. We miss him terribly but sometimes Killi and I will go eat ice cream just because and not care if it spoils dinner and there’s no guilt because it only happens when daddy is away, which hardly ever happens. This time hasn’t been as much fun, there has been no ice cream, there has only been crying and no sleep the entire week for mommy and Killi.

Chris has been gone to France for a week; he forgot his phone charger so we haven’t spoken all week except for a few Facebook messages here and there. This past weekend before my husband left for work, our son was eating like a teenage boy. I could not get him enough to eat; fruits, cereal, crackers, chicken, seriously everything except veggies…  I figured it was a growth spurt. Chris left Sunday night and so it began.

Children must have “spidey sense,” they know exactly when your significant other/support system is gone and when your head is about to hit the pillow and just when you are pulling up the covers to get all cozy you hear a “WHHHHAAAHHHHHHHAHHHH”. The good news, I have found when my husband is away I am much more tolerant and understanding of my son and his crying out in the night. Don’t get me wrong; a certain expletive will come flying out of my mouth but then I get out of bed, shake it off and rush to his side. On Sunday we had a rough night, he was up all night and finally started his day at 5am and Monday night was no better.

Tuesday night was the same but around 5:15am he was trying to escape from the apartment. I had heard him crying and rushed into his room but he wasn’t there. I rushed back to my room and he wasn’t there. I start to panic a little. I hear him crying but couldn’t see him anywhere in the dark apartment. I start yelling out his name but still do not see him. Then I hear the front door open, luckily we have the security latch on so he could not get out. He had no idea where he was but by that time he had snapped out of it he was ready to start his day.

Seriously dude? We have been up all night. You are not sleeping, mommy isn’t sleeping. You are now telling me that you are ready to play at 5am? Wednesday, I was tired but I made it through the day. Around 8pm Wednesday night, my son started crying in his sleep. I tried to hold him to see if I could comfort him but to no avail I could not calm him down. He was throwing his arms and legs around, turning himself around in the bed, and pillows and stuffed animals were thrown over the entire room. He was waking up enough to tell himself “don’t cry,” it was so pitiful. I knew I was in for another long night.

Last night was the worst night so far; he was up all night crying and again started his day at 5am. There was nothing I could do to help him. I had some friends suggest he might be having night terrors. I know night terrors and with Killi they are awful, I even know night terrors at 30,000 feet, which believe me are worse than snakes on a plane as far as I am concerned!

Since these smaller crying episodes were not as severe as the night terrors we had experienced before I started googling because that’s what every mother does when they don’t have the answer. I saw some moms had said that during their kids growth spurts they would experience the same type of not fully awake crying fits. So yes the fits can come from being overtired and over stimulated, which we experienced on our last visit to the US and on the airplane, but it turns out it can also happen during times of growth.  Awesome…

Al l I have to say is the growing better chill out for this flight coming up in 16 days.

Lord help me… maybe tonight will be better…

A momma can dream.