The last 20 minutes

My son is now asleep. In my arms. Allowing me to compose this post with only one hand. He finally fell asleep after a tiring wrestling duo. Yes, that's right. I wrestled with my son, only to get him to sleep.

He should have been sleeping a few hours ago. Warned by his yawning, I danced him to sleep humming his favorite lullaby. But he was still fully up and wanted to play. So, I let him play with his toys scattered around the room, crawling here and there, and messing with the keyboard and mouse. After 40 minutes or so, I again soothed him to sleep, but still failed. Later, I figured that giving him milk will draw him to sleep. I patted him while drinking his milk, but after finishing only about 3/4 of it, he got up and there he went playing again. He yawned and yawned while playing. Tried to carry him again but he just resisted my swaying. Then he started rubbing his eyes, guess it was time to really put him to sleep. I tried the sway-and-hum-lullaby method again but he was irritated and continuously scratched his face. Tried my best to refrain him from doing so but holding him with a stronger grip might hurt him. So, I switched ways of holding him thinking that he would stop from further hurting his skin. But I think his desire to scratch himself was stronger than my will to restrain him, as I my patience was already getting short. Crying, eyes half closed, and scratching still, I lay him on the bed and tried to calm him down. But he cried further, scratched harder, rubbed his arms against the pillow. I picked him up again, but it didn't do any good. Put him down again, and patted while humming, and frantically giving him milk or pacifier, which he both resisted. On the verge of losing my temper, I got up and watched him ruin his face, neck and head. At this time, his face was already very red from scratching and crying. I went to the dining area, and waited what he would do after leaving him alone. After a few minutes, still crying hard, he got up, crawled down the bed, onto the floor, towards me. When he was near me, he motioned his hand asking for my embrace. What a mother like me would do but give him the embrace he needed. So, I picked him up, and he stopped crying, but sobbing. He really wanted to sleep but the itch was irritating him badly. I held his hand so as not to rub his arms against my shirt. I then thought of distracting him from that annoying itch by giving him a toy. Luckily, he held the toy and then lean his head on my shoulder. He fell asleep shortly after that, sobbing a little till faded, pacifier on his mouth and the rattle toy in his hand. Ahh, the agony was finally over.

All these happened for about 20 minutes or so. And this wrestling episode usually happens when he sleeps or wakes up at the WRONG TIME. Oh, how I wish it will always be right for his sleeping and waking times. I still need to find the right cue for this right one. Sometimes, getting him to sleep is just as easy as giving him the bottle and finishes it just in time to shut his eyes off and on the dreamland. Or, in a few cases, dance-and-pat method works better. I have yet to decifer which method is best for which situation.

Wish me luck!