April's Life Adventures

Sunday, August 28, 2005

Nocturnal Visitor

When I was a little girl, I loved going camping with my family. I suppose that my all time favorite family vacation was when we all backpacked far into the mountains that surrounded our home. I don't remember how long we stayed in the wilderness, but I do remember that we were all alone. I mean, no camping host, no fee, no toilets, but so much to see that far away from civilization. My husband was raised in a similar household where he was instilled with the love of the outdoors as well. His family would converge upon a national park for two to three weeks every year. Camping was also part of our honeymoon... But that's another story altogether.

Because of our wonderful childhood memories, we have always wanted to instill that same love for the world within our children. I think that the first time we took our oldest daughter camping, she was under a year old. We took her again the following summer, but we had to leave camp in the middle of the night because she couldn't stop crying and we feared the wrath of our neighbors. Now, however she gets extremely excited whenever we start packing the supplies up from the basement. She knows that it is time to go out and play in the dirt.

I have always feared the anger of fellow campers. Interruptions in the sleep cycle will always make it difficult to be kind to your neighboring outdoorsmen. This fear has lead us to make a grievous mistake. About a month ago, we went camping again and my youngest daughter became cold and thus began to wail. In an attempt to warm her up and quiet her down, I invited her to join us in our sleeping bag (we zip two bags together and share.... quite fun actually). She immediately quieted down, but refused to go back to her own bed. Each time I would attempt it, she would scream even louder, so I gave up and attempted to sleep while being kicked in the ribs.

Our current camping nightmare is that the cute little one has decided that camping means sleeping with mommy and daddy. Ugh. I have never allowed my children to sleep with me at home, and thus it is not an issue here, but in the woods I never seem to get any sleep because I have a two year old breathing down my neck. I am in constant fear of rolling on top of her so my mind won't shut down enough to sleep deeply. Thus, camping is no longer the wonderful experience it once was. I find myself dreading the trek to the majestic mountains that I love.

Perhaps the time to cure the nighttime visitor is a backyard camping trip where the neighbors are behind walls and closed doors. Therefore, if she protests her own bed, I won't have to fear the wrath of sleepy patrons of the outdoors in the morning.

Posted by April_Mommy :: 8:35 AM :: 5 comments