North Korea

At night, it is easier to sneak out of North Korea than Rain's room. For the first year of her life, she slept in the same room with us, and she has no intention of changing that. Let's not forget that Rain, who had no teeth four months ago, now has SEVEN (with several more pushing through her inflamed gums). She is teething and irritated. So, putting her to bed is a two-step affair.

First, we have to get her in her crib. This is an entirely different process for me than it is for Tim. Tim will cuddle Rain for a few minutes, put her in her crib, and walk out of the room. If Rain cries, tough cookies, because he's not coming back for her. Rain knows this, so she usually cries for less than 1 minute, resigns herself to her fate, and falls asleep. This is why Tim puts Rain to bed 90% of the time.

On the few nights where I have to put Rain to bed, it is pathetic. I don't have the heart to hear her cry, so I usually lay her in her crib and (*blush*) sit next to it while she falls asleep. Even if Rain's eyes are closed for a full minute, if I attempt to leave the room, she knows. At the slightest sound of my departure, her eyelids snap open, and her pupils beam on my coordinates. Tim has oiled the hinges on her bedroom door, but that is of limited help. Most nights, I don't make it to the door before she's on to me. Tim thinks I'm ridiculous to let her be so needy with me. He's totally right, so I've tried to be more like him when it comes to Rain's bedtime. Rain is furious when I do that, and she cries a lot longer after I've put her in her room than when Tim does it.

The second phase happens around 3 or 4 AM. Every night at this time, Rain cries to come to bed with us. Before, we caved pretty easily about this because who wants to deal with that drama at that hour, ya know? But for a week or so, Tim and I tried to commit to putting her back into her crib at night. We kind of had a routine going, but then Rain got sick. Last week, she had a stomach virus sort of thing and cried a lot at night. So, back we were to our old routine.

Since Rain has seemed to be a lot better for the last day or so, I thought it was time to get her back to staying in the crib all night. Welp, I was a bit surprised than to find Tim fiddling with Rain's crib today. Apparently, he felt she was too big for her crib (Rain's is a convertible one), so he converted it to a toddler bed. Basically, he removed one side of her regular crib and put in a low bed rail. The bed rail is only high enough to keep Rain from falling out of bed, but it only fits half of the bed so that Rain can get in and out easily.

Hmm, I thought, surveying the situation. Doesn't that mean Rain will be able to leave the bed herself at night? Sure enough, at 3 AM this morning, I woke up to Rain's crying. I automatically went to her room. The door was shut, and in a bit of humor, Rain was knocking on her door for me to let her out. I opened the door, and like a true soldier, tried to put her back to bed. She was fine about it--as long as I didn't try to leave. After another North Korea escape ten minutes later, I was back in bed trying to get some sleep. I had left Rain's door open this time, figuring she probably wouldn't be up until 7 AM, her usual breakfast time.

Five minutes later, we both wake up to Rain's crying. This time, however, she sounds much nearer than before. Tim got up, and a minute later, returned with a sad package. He had found Rain inching her way down the hall while holding ... her oversized stuffed lamb that she sleeps with every night since she was born. The two had tried to make it to our bedroom while Rain wailed the whole way.

It was too much for us.

Rain is asleep with Tim right now, and as for me? I'm heading to the couch, where all bad defectors go.