Divine Serendipity

Tuesday night, I had one of the best nights of sleep I've had in recent memory (read: a year). Mal woke up at least 4 times to nurse, but that's not as many as usual, and each time he just woke up, wanted milk, and went back to sleep.

Last night? Last night was very different. Mal got a little wound up at an event last night, and when it came time to go to sleep, he was ready, but there was some crying involved and there usually isn't (although there's always some aerobics involved).

Then, all night, he wanted to nurse. And not just nurse. He wanted to cry because he was on the "wrong" side, climb over me to get to the other side, not want to wait for me to readjust at all, and then get madder when, in trying to cover my cold self, I accidentally covered HIM with a blanket (which is just *not* done!), and he had to kick it off.

All. night. long.

I don't count because I don't want to go crazy, but let's just estimate that this happened 15 times. He'd wake up into a full stand a few times, too. I had to wrestle him back to bed before he lost his balance and fell over, hitting his head against the wall or window (I don't think he's fully awake when he does this).

I might have started grumbling and complaining at some point. You know, just to share the joy with my husband. I'm not proud of it, but there it is.

Then, at a bit before six, Mal had drunk so much that he soaked through is special night-time Pull-Up and I had to go change his diaper and his clothes. James got a towel to put over where he'd been lying, and I hoped against hope that Mal would go back to sleep.

It didn't look promising. Mal sat up, talked, climbed over me several times. In my exhaustion, I started thinking black thoughts like, "Why, in 14 months, has my husband never taken this child first thing in the morning so I can get some extra sleep?" (The reality of that probably lies somewhere between "He doesn't want/have to" and "Mal wouldn't let him, anyway.")

But, praises for small miracles, eventually Mal konked out lying on my shoulder. My arm went to sleep and my hand was freezing, but I did not dare move as I was able to doze on and off for another hour.

When we finally got up, I started the laundry. Sheets, blankets, mattress cover, etc. I managed to get James lunch (as it was, not much) but he had to find breakfast on the way to work. Mal and I did our usual morning stuff, but he was already getting tired and fussy. I ended up opening the 73-piece kitchen set we were going to give him for Christmas (what does he know about Christmas this year, anyway?) just so he'd have something new to distract him.

By 9 AM, I knew we had to get out of the house. Crepe Crazy has a new location on South Lamar grand opening today, so I thought we'd hit the gym for just a few, then go on to that. By the time I changed out the laundry, straightened Mal's room, and got everything together, we were ready to leave here at about 9:20, just in time to be at the gym when it opened at 9:30.

Mal was excited! We got down to the car, I opened the driver's side door and put him in (our back door doesn't open anymore, so we go through the front, just so you can stop worrying that I let him ride in the front), then clicked the "unlock" button. Nothing. Aww, crap.

Last night, I'd turned on the dome lights to keep Mal awake while we drove home from the gingerbread contest awards ceremony.

I don't know who won this category, but this was my favorite.

I'd turned my front lights off so I could drive in the dark, and just must not have noticed that they were still on. So our battery was dead.

I stood there thinking for a minute. There were guys coming to work on the apartment remodels, and I thought about asking one of them to help me jump start the van, but they were on the clock and I didn't want them to fall behind schedule.

Also, of course, though I usually back into my parking space, because I was in a hurry last night and wanting to get Mal upstairs to see his dad before he fell asleep, I had pulled straight into the parking space, which meant my battery was facing the forest. Fortunately, the parking space is sloped, so I could back out, but it'd be tight, since I'm parked perpendicular and barely behind the covered parking for our building.

After about five minutes, I decided to go ask our downstairs neighbor Reggie if she could give us a jump. We knocked on her door and she answered, groggy but happy to see us. Apparently, she has trouble sleeping and was napping. Oops. But she told us she'd be happy to help, and asked us to go chat with her mom while she got her keys and got ready (dressed).

I was glad we had the chance to talk to the mom, because she loves Mal and we haven't seen her in a while. She'd fallen at a beauty salon a couple of months ago and had to do rehab, but said she's doing a lot better. She's going in for some tests this afternoon to make sure she doesn't have cancer anymore.

While we were there, Mal managed to change the input for her TV before we got the remote from him, but fortunately her daughter knew that the input as supposed to be HDMI2 (I'd tried cable/antenna, video, HDMI 1, and figured... why would it be 2? But it was...)

When we got outside, Reggie pulled her car out so we wouldn't block her, and I tried to back out in neutral. Problem: I was right on the curb, and the tire was caught. I managed to push it back using one leg, but it only went back about 3 feet and stopped. This time, I did ask the contractors for help. It took three of them, but they got the car pushed back far enough for the cables to reach, but not for me to hit the car behind me (steering is sluggish and difficult when you have a big vehicle and power steering is out!).

As I went to get Reggie's hood open, she told me she'd never opened it herself before. It took me a few tries before I figured it out, but once I did, we got everything hooked up and it worked fine. She was concerned about my driving anywhere, but I stopped to get gas on the way (leaving the car running; trust me, it's fine) and by the time we got to Mal's gym, the car has been running 25 minutes, which was plenty to recharge the battery.

About the gym: I think I spend about half of my time there re-closing the bathroom doors (hurray for you parents with kids who *don't* play in toilets, but could you help a sister out?), about a third of my time there giving Mal snacks, and about a sixth of the time actually watching and helping him play in the gym.

Anyway, we ran by BK to use some coupons on the way home, and when we got here, Mal was ready for a nap. He wasn't quite asleep yet, which is just how I like it, when we started up the stairs... And Reggie came out of her apartment to ask me a favor. She wanted to know if I'd be willing to sit with her mom sometimes when she needs to run out to the store really quickly. I was so tickled! Ever since we started moving in, I have been wanting to do something for them besides just visiting (although that helps a lot, morale-wise).

If my battery hadn't been dead and I hadn't asked for a favor, she might not have felt comfortable asking for one in return. So, if that was the point of all of that, then I think it was incredible, and I thank God for it. It wasn't even that bad, anyway; just a little inconvenient. And now we get to do something nice for the ladies downstairs. Well-played, God.