Abby at midnight

Abby got croup again, for the third time in 6 months. Of course it didn't really come on until midnight so we had no warning until her barky cough and crying woke me up. She didn't have a fever or anything else and otherwise has been herself, but she just has a bad cough and was very upset about it last night. The thing with croup is that when a child gets upset, their breathing gets more and more labored, so the best way to take care of them is to help them calm down so their breathing gets back to somewhat normal.

So anyway, after Abby had an episode of croup last night I picked her up and rocked her a bit to help her calm down. She did calm down quickly and we cuddled for awhile so I could make sure she was good and calmed down. Unfortunately, when she calmed down with her breathing and coughing, she also got excited about midnight with Mommy. She would lay her head down on my shoulder, then sit back and stare at me. I tried not to look or pretend to sleep, so as to not encourage her but let her know it was sleeping time, but I just had to look some. And whenever I did, she would have this huge smile on her face and she just started at me. Then she'd put her head on my shoulder again, then sit up and stare at me and so on. After awhile she tired of just looking at me and started stroking my hair (something she's never done before). Then she decided to nuzzle noses with me and she'd lean in, rub her nose against mine and squeal with delight.

And I was really delighted too, despite myself and the late hour. But as I realized that she was enjoying this playtime too much and should really be sleeping (as I should have been doing as well), it was time to put her to bed. Now the conundrum with this is that you obviously don't want her to get upset as then she could have another episode of her croup cough and breathing (which can sometimes land a child in the ER as we know from experience with Sam and Matthew). So the question is, can I put her back in her bed without too much of a fuss? The answer last night was "no". I told Abby it was time for night night and she said "NO". No surprise there, that's her favorite word. But I reiterated that it was bedtime, sang to her and put her in her crib, but she immediately stood up and started screaming. I picked her up, rocked her a bit and she started playing again. Now I wasn't so delighted, it was nearly 1AM and I hadn't hardly gotten any sleep.

It was time for the last trick in my bag. I told Abby that I was going to put her in her crib and if she fussed Daddy was coming to her. I thought she preferred time with me to time with Jason and would calm down better and go back to sleep better. So I put her in her crib and left her room and she started screaming. So then Jason went in to see her and got her calmed down in about 10 minutes. Better than my hour of effort had done. The magic of the Daddy.