"I Am Two"

It came from down the hall "eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeh eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeh eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeh.
So I went to see what it was. I knew who it was- it was Ted, my toddler. As a mom, you do these things in the middle of the night with a list in your mind. At first you hear it coming from down the hall and you have a conversation with yourself that goes something like this:

That's Ted. I must get up right now and see what the matter is!! Wait. He's almost 2. He could be manipulating me. Do I really want to encourage him to do this when he's bored? There's no real urgency in his voice. Maybe he'll settle back down. Besides, the covers are just where I like them....

And then you wait to see what will happen.

(My husband works nights, so I have this conversation with myself.)

eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeh eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeh eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeh.

Maybe his foot's caught? Maybe he's leaked out of his diaper? Maybe he threw up? Maybe he had a nightmare?

So my mom-guilt and I get up and walk down the hall, trying to avoid the squeaky part of the hallway in case I decide I don't need to go into his room. I step on it every time of course. I put my nose to the crack of the door and I smell. This will often answer the question of whether I need to go into the room or not. (I think that only other moms will understand why that's not either gross or a cop-out.)

So it was last night. I'm nursing the infant- voracious little guy nurses three to five times a night still. He's two-and-a-half months old and has already gained 7 pounds. So I don't want to get up and tend to a toddler who might just be bored- I really need to sleep when I can. But even if there's nothing wrong that can be tangibly addressed, my opinion is that if the toddler has a bad dream, it would be a scary world if mom didn't come down and see what the matter was. Finding the right line between compassion and spoiling is not always easy.

So I went into his room and turned on the light. He was lying on his back, holding onto his bear, his feet up on the crib rails. He appeared genuinely surprised to see me. Bear in mind that I had been sleeping with a white-noise machine in the room when he woke me up and I had enough time to run through all the pros and cons before getting up and going into his room. All the while, I could hear him at the other end of the hall:
eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeh eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeh eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeh.
He had no issue that needed to be addressed, he was just making noise. At least for last night, I figured out what
eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeh eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeh eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeh .
means. At least for last night, it means "I am two."