Poor Bedless Brad

The other night, I was asleep in my bed with Ariane, and Brad was sharing Nikhil's bed (not an uncommon occurrence in our house of late). Sometime in the middle of the wee hours, I heard Brad shouting, "No, YOU go!", followed by a tearful Nikhil stumbling to my bedside through the darkness. Desperately wanting to salvage as many sleeping hours as I could, I wordlessly scooped him up and settled him to sleep next to me.

The next morning, discovering myself surrounded by two babies and no husband, I asked Brad what had happened. I usually wake up feeling quite hung over and completely oblivious to what has occurred during my exhausted but sleepless night.

This was Brad's story.

We were experiencing an unexpected cold front in the middle of summer. Since Nikhil now has no warm pyjamas or warm blankets, and his room is the coldest in the house, and all the heaters have been stowed away, I had asked Brad to sleep with Nikhil to keep him warm. Insult no.1 - I kicked Brad out of our bed.

Sometime in the middle of the wee hours, Nikhil woke up and started calling for me. Brad unsuccessfully tried to put him back to sleep, so we swapped places - Brad slept in our room, I slept in Nikhil's room. Insult no.2 - Nikhil kicked Brad out of his bed.

After getting Nikhil back to sleep, I went back to my bed, to be there when Ariane woke for a feed. It was miserably cold in Nikhil's room, so I asked Brad to go back and keep him warm. Insult no.3 - I kicked Brad out of our bed AGAIN.

Sometime in the middle of the (slightly later) wee hours, Nikhil woke up again and called for me. Brad said he was crying, "Daddy go. Not you, only Mommy". Insult no.4 - Nikhil kicking Brad out of his bed AGAIN. And that's when I heard Brad shouting "No, YOU go!" and kicking NIKHIL out of his bed.

Apparently Brad had just had enough of being shunted around the house. Poor unwanted Brad - no wonder he's craving a bit of attention.