Co-Sleep = No Sleep

Whether or not to co-sleep is a choice every sert of parents has to make for themselves. Before my son was even born, I decided we were definitely not going to co-sleep. I don;t even let the cat sleep with us; sometimes I'd even like to kick The Scientist out of bed. It's not him, it's me. Really. I tend to sleep spread-eagled on the bed, sprwled out like I was thrown through the windshield in a bad car wreck (The Scientist, on the other hand, sleeps like a mummy: on his back, arms crossed over his chest. He has woken once or twice to find me hunched over him, holding a mirror under his nose).

Tempting as it sometimes is to snuggle up under the covers with the little guy (and when he was little we sometimes did for naps), we can't give in. Because, unfortunately for his future bed partner(s), he's inherited my sleeping habits. As soon as he could roll over, it began. You can hear him through the baby monitor, thrashing around like an octopus in distress. We've named his sleeping positions, like a list of somnolent yoga poses: Bottoms-Up Froggie, Stunned Monkey, Curled-Up Autumn Leaf, and of course, Ejected From the Car During the Collision. Depiste his active and creative slumber, Khan rarely wakes himself (until his pacfier falls out of his mouth, and then he snapos awake and wails like a Hollywood starlet who just found out she'd getting 90 days in jail- bazinga!). I live in terror of the impending toddler bed; I just assume he's going to flail himself off the bed to the floor fifty times a night.

My brother and his girlfriend chose to co-sleep with their son since the beginning. Sure, he slept through the night from birth, but these days he's the only one who's sleeping. It seems little Napoleon(that's his codename) thrashes just as much as Khan, keeping his parents awake all night. At this point, their choices seem to be keeping him in bed with them (and not sleeping) or putting him in his crib cold turkey and letting him scream (and not sleeping). I admit my pity for them is mixed with a healthy dose of schadenfreude. Years of little-brother torment finally beinf repaid?

This doesn't necessarily mean that my way is right. But we made our choise, and we're happy with it.