My husband mentions in his little diddy under the "about me" section that at night I lay there with Codi while he cries. I had to laugh because I realize that makes me sounds like someone who lets their kid "cry it out." I actually tried that twice and massively failed, both attempts ending in me pulling him out of the crib and cramming my boob in his mouth while letting him sleep in my bed. Now that he is sleeping on his own he wakes up one or two times a night and he usually starts crying. My instinct is of course to pick him up. His instinct is to arch his back hick his legs and flail his arms like a wild flying monkey and REFUSE to let me touch him. This does not only occur at night, it occurs any time he cries now. Unlike Brandon who wanted to be held in the midst of a fit, Codi would rather lay on the floor kick, scream and throw one of those fits you see on Super Nanny. If he could talk I’m pretty sure he would say "LEAVE ME THE FUCK ALONE."

The interesting part of his night quirk is that he can’t cry alone he must cry with someone next to him, JUST NOT TOUCHING HIM. That means I lay there at night just close enough to appease him but far enough away that if I breathe he won’t feel it and scream at me.

My favorite part of the rule is that Codi is allowed to touch you. Meaning just now when I went to put him down for a nap he crawled over and thrust his entire body over me half on my head, and half on my arm and chest. He passed out like that, and me in a moment of stupidity reached up and placed my hand softly on the small of his back. His response was to jolt up, scream at me and thrust my hand off of him and then pass right back out. Okay so, it’s okay for you but not for me huh?

There is one exception to the “no touching rule.” That is the rubber bands on my wrist. Since Codi was little he has had a fixation with touching things while nursing. My friends would often laugh as I was nursing Codi and suddenly his little foot would creep up and his toes would start winding into my shirt. If I was wearing a tank top he would grab one strap with his arms and stick his foot in the other, falling asleep leaving me in a very complicated situation. Even now he will still reach over and grab the strap of my shirt to sooth himself. However recently he discovered the hair tie I always have on my wrist. I am allowed to touch him just long enough to offer my wrist to him. Then he will pull off my hair tie, place it on his hand and sooth himself to sleep playing with it. Because of this I now have to wear two hair ties. Actually there are a total of 3. Two on my wrist and one in his bed from last night. Tonight he will take one off and sometime later I will locate the old discarded one and place it on my wrist.

I’m thrilled that even if I can’t touch him, rub his back, rub his head or cover him with a blanket (LORD HAVE MERCEY THE PERSON WHO TRIES TO COVER THIS KID), I at least have some part of me to offer him that soothes him back to sleep.

Does your kid have funny quirks? Do they want to be held during tantrums or do they flop around like a fish out of water too? What is your childs favorite soothing technique?
 

Don’t forget to enter my give away.  Only two days left until the winner is announced.  Click here to enter to win a brand new HP Photosmart all in one printer!