While I Was Camping

As per previous posts, Jacob, at 13 months, was still not completely weaned - as in, he was still nursing in the middle of the night. We joked about the idea of going away for a weekend and leaving the kids with grandparents, all the while pretending he was weaned so that he would be by the time we returned. We never did that, but this past weekend was close to the same idea. I went camping. Without the kids. Scott stayed home, knowing that he would be "weaning" Jacob while I was away.

I returned. And here's what happened while I was gone. On Friday night Jacob woke up at around 10:30pm. Scott gave him water. He went back to sleep and didn't wake up until 7:00 in the morning. Repeat for Saturday. He has never done that in his life. And I was actually feeling a little bit bad for Scott and the terrible nights I was sure he was having. When I came home Sunday my baby boy was done nursing. And it all happened without incident. It was too easy.

Fast forward to Sunday night. Jacob wakes up around 10:30. Scott gives him water. I'm looking forward to my first night in a LONG time without having to get up in the night. Ahh, it feels great. Then it's midnight and I'm jolted out of a deep sleep by a crying Jacob. More water. More crying. It seems he knows I'm home and water just isn't going to cut it. So I give him Tylenol. A brief reprieve. But around 2:00, he wakes up again! And again around 3:30. And then again sometime just before 5:00. Can he sense me in the next room? Why did he do so well while I was gone? And the bigger question: what's he going to do over the next 4 days when I go camping again, this time with him, and he's sleeping a few feet away from me in the tent?

I shudder to think of the implications.