Find all of my 31 Moments of Motherhood posts here.
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[Lights come up on a woman carrying a swaddled baby, pacing in a large circle, bouncing the baby on her shoulder.]
Me
[Talking to husband] “What time is it? 10:00? Do you think she will stay asleep if I put her down?” [Pause] “Hmmm…maybe one more show before I put her in her crib. Want to take a turn bouncing her?”
[Handing her to husband offstage]
Me
[To Audience] “Every night, we would walk creaky circles around our house, bouncing our daughter until late into the evening. When she was tiny, it seemed normal, but as she grew into a wiggly six month old, we started to wonder what we were doing wrong. Being ‘on-duty’ day and night without much of a break was wearing on me, and we were tired and frustrated.”
“The turning point came at a party where I sat next to a dear friend of mine and she looked straight in my eyes and said,”
[Voice from offstage]
“Put her to bed.””
Me
[Towards offstage] “What?”
[Voice from offstage]
“Put her to bed. At a decent hour. Start now.”
Me
[Towards offstage] “Okay…okay…we will…I promise.”
[To Audience]
“I took back my life that night, no longer held hostage by what I thought my daughter wanted. Instead, she needed to learn how to deal with going to bed at 7 p.m, because honestly, knowing what was best for her was part of the job description. Right now, it was sleep, but later on we would run up against other situations where she was going to think she knew what was best…extra desserts, less sleep, more television, and I had to be the parent.
[Towards offstage, quietly]
“Is she asleep? [Pause] Okay…I’ll come and take her up to her crib…”
[She walks off stage. Lights Down]
