Papa’s Co-Sleeping Essay Contest Entry
Update: I am SO PROUD! Tom’s entry was one of the winners in the Co-Sleeping Essay Contest. It will be featured in the book “Are You Co-Sleeping? Me Too!” Congratulations honey!!
And I found out later that my essay was also chosen. Both of our essays will be published – fantastic!
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Tom decided to try his hand at the co-sleeping essay contest, and he gave me permission to publish his entry here. I hope you enjoy a papa’s point of view!
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A co-sleeping haiku:
Mama. Papa. Boy.
All asleep in the same bed.
Whose foot could that be?
Movies and television portray the stereotypical co-sleeping family thusly:
1) papa has no covers (they’ve been stolen); or
2) papa has been squeezed to the very edge of the bed (his former “spot” claimed by eminent domain).
In our family bed, life imitates art from time to time. Occasionally, covers are stolen. And I sometimes get squeezed to the edge.
There are times my wife and two-year-old son seem to play a game of Risk, and my homeland is invaded while I’m off visiting Dreamland. I usually counter their maneuvers by taking full advantage of our king-size bed – I simply hop over to the other side, far from enemy lines.
Despite these occasional inconveniences, I wouldn’t want to change our co-sleeping setup in any way.
When my son has difficulty sleeping due to congestion or teething, having him nearby allows my wife to soothe him and nurse him back to sleep. Same thing for a diaper change or a bad dream. If he were in a separate bed, we’d have to fully wake up and trek across the house.
Mostly, though, it’s great to have my lovely wife and wonderful son to flirt with and talk to first thing in the morning. Co-sleeping gives us quality reconnect time after the hustle and bustle of our days. (Even though that reconnect is often in the form of a toddler’s foot to my back.)
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You still have two full days to enter the Co-Sleeping Essay Contest – read all of the details here, and be sure to tell them you were referred by www.codenamemama.com!
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"Papa’s Co-Sleeping Essay Contest Entry"
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That’s so sweet :D
I love this entry! Well, both of yours — but what a great perspective. And I’m loving the humor.
I’m so jealous of families that are able to ALL share a bed. Sadly Peter has always been shunned because Alexa (well me too) sleep so fitfully that having him added to the mix just didn’t work. In the early days it was fine, we were all in there cuddled together. But after about the 4 month mark we started sleeping in different rooms. Now we’re working on using the crib a year out…though I still sleep with my daughter after she wakes around 1am.
Congrats on the publication. Are you going to use a pen name? If so, I suggest Samuel Langhorne Clemens. Also, I’ve never noticed it in the picture before, but is your right hand really that abnormally large?