Ferberizing the Puppies

For the last week I haven’t slept well.  I can break it down into seven likely suspects:

• Stress.  There is just not enough time in the day, and I’ve had a bunch of deadlines looming over me.  Not unusual, but the grouping of deadlines so closely together is notable.
• Spring allergies.  I’ve been a teensy bit congested, which makes finding a comfortable sleeping position difficult.  I end up tossing and turning all night.
• Spring allergies #2.  Bill is snoring more than usual, which just exacerbates my restlessness.
• Warmer weather.  We normally keep our bedroom quite cold in the winter, and so the first wave of “slightly above freezing” night temperatures seems like a sauna in the middle of the night.
• Warmer weather #2.  The dogs are also noticing the warmer temperatures and are prone to their own restless tossing and turning.  Instead of being tucked in behind my knees, I actually found Maya stretched out along the headboard ON OUR PILLOWS, while we had scrunched down the bed to accommodate her. 
• A good audiobook.  I’m totally enthralled with The Piano Teacher, an audiobook I downloaded from the local library.  I can’t remember why I picked it out of the thousands of possible options, but it’s definitely keeping me up at night.  I have to listen to it for at least 90 minutes before I can call it a night.
• Too much caffeine.  I’ve started having a big cup of coffee in the morning.  Could that possibly affect my sleep more than 14 hours later?  Maybe.

It’s probably a combination of all these things, but last night I had enough.  I was near tears with exhaustion and the process of getting ready for bed almost sent me over the edge.  Bill was ready to sleep in the other room to solve the snoring problem, but it was the “dogs kicking me in the head all through the night” problem that was uppermost in my mind.  And so I decided that they were no longer allowed on the bed.  We were going to stop the madness right there.   A line in the sand was drawn.

In retrospect, this was probably not the best decision. 

We had planned to transition them over to a new window seat that Bill is planning to build in our bedroom bay window, where they can sleep on a nice pillow and look out the window.  But since the window seat is still just a twinkle in Bill’s eye, we have no designated “dog sleeping place” other than the bed, which is a problem.  We also don’t have a dog bed that will accommodate them both, and they are loathe to sleep directly on the carpet, little princesses that they are.

So what did I do, in my sleep-deprived, addled state?  I created a little nest for them with extra pillows from the various beds in our house in the place that the window seat will eventually be (so that they would at least begin to associate that spot with nighttime snoozing).  I also opened all of the windows to take advantage of the cooler night air. 

In retrospect, that was definitely not the best decision. 

The freezing night air that was so welcome under my down comforter was also directly blowing on the puppies, who weren’t keen on sleeping on the floor under the bay window in the first place. 

They must have jumped on the bed twenty times.  Thankfully, Maya got the point after about an hour, but Gracie continued to slink up onto the bed throughout the long, dark, hollow, never-ending night.  Each time I had to sit up, muster my “calm and assertive” voice, order her off the bed—and then most times I also had to resort to shoving her furry little body as she twisted and wriggled to stay on.

And then once they were on the floor it took them forever to settle down.  There was about 20 minutes of itching (with metal collar jangling) for Gracie, a few explorations of the hallway for Maya (complete with loudly groaning floorboards), an exciting “chase the cat” adventure, and then nonstop restless pacing for the remainder of the night.

Eventually, they piled up in an indistinguishable pile of black fur on the pillows by the window around 6:30 a.m., and I think I managed to get a whole 7 minutes of consecutive sleep before the alarm went off.  So yet another night went by with no relief.

I’m hoping that tonight we can get to a consecutive 10 minutes, and then perhaps 15 minutes on Friday night.  Although at that rate, I’ll be checked into a mental hospital by Saturday.

Comments

[Elizabeth]

Wow. At least with Ferberizing a baby, he can't chase the cat. Yet. If we had a cat. I feel for you. Lack of sleep makes you crazy.

[Mom]

So sorry! It does sound like a nightmare, but I guess you aren't having those, either.I venture to say it will be worth it if you can actually complete the training.