I've been struggling a little bit with patience lately - nothing major, I just haven't been as calm and relaxed as I'd like to be. So when Dom had trouble nodding off tonight (he's just gone to sleep, a few minutes before 10 pm, when he's usually snoring by 8:30), I resolved to get some practice in at being patient instead of making it clear that I was annoyed by the change.
He was sitting on my knee, mid-cry because I wouldn't let him get up, when I started crooning "Hush, Little Baby" - the only gentle song I'd been able to remember on coming home from the hospital and a song which had consequently become "ours," but which I hadn't had occasion to sing for a while. He quietened within half a verse and snuggled in to listen, making me think that some part of his brain remembers the baby days and can still be soothed by the old lullaby. When I finished, he took my face in his hands, kissed me and said, "I happy now. Mama, sing it again." Then he proceeded to gently stroke my face until I started singing again, punctuating the verses with kisses and laying his head on my chest between giant baby-cuddles. Soon, he was snoring on my chest - the first time in I can't say how long that he's fallen asleep on me. He stirred as I laid him in his bed, but a caress on the cheek sent him back to dreamland and there he stays.
