Of beds and webs.

Everyone knows about the big co-sleeping trend, right? The idea of having your darling infant snuggle into bed with you at night has been widely endorsed by attachment parent types. And while I am not hard core attachment parenting oriented (honestly I am not hard core in any parenting philosophy) this was something that we did when Big Dog was a newborn. It wasn't something we had really planned on, him being in our bed. I'd planned on having him in a co-sleeper then transitioning him to a crib at some point. Unfortunately, Big Dog was one of those babies, you know they type, the babies who will not sleep unless they are being held. Top that off with my battle with milk supply and it seemed to become a natural solution. And it worked out well for a while.

Now here's the dirty little secret the attachment parents don't usually let on. Once they are in your bed, it is damn near impossible to get them out. Your darling child becomes a barnacle on your bed sheets, immovable. Not only did Big Dog deem our bed, the "big big bed", his property, I became so used to him being there, that when he was not I worried obsessively about him. Was he going to fall out of his bed? Would he stop breathing? Would he be scared? Would someone break into the house and snatch him? So we kept on sleeping in a shared bed. One interesting note, Little Dog has never slept in our bed. He refused to sleep anywhere he was required to share space. He had his moses basket, his Ambybed, his crib and now is toddler bed, all to himself. And I have never worried about him. Go figure.

So at 4 years old, Big Dog was still spenging his nights in our bed, despite the brand new big boy bed in his big boy room. He'd brag about them to anyone who woulld listen, but sleep in there? Hell no. Maybe one night as a novelty, but the next night he'd decline. It has been like this for months.

Then something happened. Big Dog developed an irrational fear of cobwebs. And our room, with the vaulted ceiling is a cobweb magnet. A few weeks ago, a big cobweb became visible over the head of our bed. And that did it. Big Dog started to ask to sleep in his bed. He'd climb in, pull up the covers and sleep. All night. Every night. Amazing.

Mr. Dog and I have our bed back. We sprawl in the king-sized bed without fear of thrashing feet and arms. My blankets are no longer kicked off by the child who seems to have some kind of raging internal heater. When I get up in the middle of the night, my space in the bed is still empty, well, apart from the odd pit bull who has reclaimed her space in the bed. Frankly we are a bit stunned by the sudden bed related freedom.

I'm still conflicted about the reason for this move. I'd rather he not have an irrational fear of cobwebs, but hey, you'll also notice I am in no rush to get rid of that specific cobweb, right?