Do Not Engage!

So 6 weeks ago my son started getting up in the middle of the night.  At first I thought it was a growth spurt, then I thought he was sick, then I don’t know what I thought but we were back to up every three hours and the solids he had begun to take he was taking less and less of.  It got so bad that I called the pediatrician because I didn’t know what else to do.
The Ped’s advice?  Stop feeding him at night.  Excellent that should make my evenings so much more enjoyable.  Instead of just popping a boob in his mouth now I have to either listen to him scream or try to console him without the one tool I know would work.
Don’t get me wrong what the Ped said made sense, “he’s showing a preference for breastfeeding and taking in less solids. This happens sometimes, don’t let him eat at night if he can avoid it and you should be able to find a balance between nursing and solid food.”
So I get home and I think this is the night, I’m primed and ready for the fight I assume my evening will take and I’m ready, emotionally physically  …. Let’s do this baby, me and you 🙂
Baby sleeps through the night.
Ok, I think maybe this won’t be so bad, maybe it will be ok.
Maybe I was wrong
The next night at about 1 am baby wakes up … crap!
So I carefully tip toe into his room and pick him up, shshing, rocking, shshing, rocking.  He starts to settle and his breathing regulates, I think ok, now’s the time to put him back down.  With my practiced hand I lower his head, pick up his but and swing his now too large frame over the edge of the crib.  And like those dolls my sister had as a child, the minute he gets horizontal, his eyes fly open and stare at me.
Double Crap!
I resume his head on my shoulder position, only this time I put his eye near my should so I can feel his eyelashes blink.  This will work I think …. that doesn’t work 🙁
So 5 minutes later, my arms are cramping and I’m starting to daydream about Jurassic Park of all things and the part where they are talking about the Velociraptors (the really bad dinosaurs) and the guy says “That one… when she looks at you, you can see she’s working things out. ”  
That is totally my kid I think, I can’t look at him, don’t engage him.  But I have to know if he’s actually asleep …. So I tilt his head very gently and start to steal the glance at his eye balls.  Trying to look straight ahead the whole time and occasionally cast my eyes downward as quick as possible in the pitch black with only my Winnie the Pooh night lite to tell me if the freakin kid is still staring away at me trying to figure out how to kill me.  
Needless to say 10 minutes later, I finally get him down and just can’t get the dinosaur reference out of my head.  
So that’s what I think about at 1 am … what do you think about 🙂