Lullaby rock

Noor Isolde is still a difficult sleeper, both during night and day. It makes no different if she’s dead tired, she’s an expert in keeping herself awake if she wants to. And even when she has fallen asleep, she wakes often. I have a feeling that has to do with her condition and her nervous system.

On a good night I only need to get up twice and she falls asleep again easily. And I'm not even counting the waking around 5am when I just take her with me in the big bed.

On a bad night I have to get up every hour and sometimes sit by her bed for a whole hour. On extreme nights, of which there are still plenty, I just take her with me in the big bed for the most part of the night.

Better sleep for her, but not for me. At least I don't have to run down the stairs to her room and quietly climb up again to find my own bed and hopefully some sleep.

I have found some tricks to get her to ease down, which sometimes help, but not always. I sing and rock her, sometimes on my arm where she sleeps the rest of the night. Noor has a night light that projects moving images of bears and angels on the ceiling and plays a lullaby music for her. She has two music boxes that sooth her for a short while. But all these instruments can’t be used during her nightly wakings. So, it’s back to singing, rocking and Reiki. And of course the smuk, or pacifier, is a crucial item in this process.

A fairly recent gadget added to the assortment of soothers is ‘Are on a distant’. Because we want Noor Isolde to hear Are’s voice, and I guess to hear some Norsk on a daily base as well, Are has sent his little girl some lullabies and Norwegian folk and fairytales to listen to, eventyr. Couldn’t I just have downloaded these for Noor? Oh nei! As I said, she needs to hear his voice. These are special recordings by Are.

And she loves to listen to them! (That is not an exclamation mark for amazement, but for joy.) She quiets down immediately, listening to her papa singing to her or telling an animated story. After listening to the Tre Bukene Bruse for more than fifty times already, she still looks out for the thunderous voice of the huge troll. She knows it’s coming, braces herself and then smiles. It’s so adorable.

But the most effective technique is something we have no control over. Noor’s room is under the incline of the house’s rooftop. Last Friday we had a howling wind, heavy rain, bouldering thunder, crackling lighting and a bit of hail landing on our heads, exactly around Noor’s bedtime. It was impossible to hear the music boxes, my singing or Are’s eventyrs. What a show!

After brushing her teeth I just put her to bed. And I got no complains what so ever. Noor sings and talks back to natures lullabies, or rock concerts. And after a while she just listens to the tapping on her window and roof and falls asleep. That was a good night, mind you, I only had to go down to sooth her twice!

There’s no controlling the weather, but I’m looking at it in a different way now, welcoming stormy weather, at least around bedtime. I guess there will be some more of that coming our way in the coming season. Autumn, leafs are falling, the world is preparing for winter and Noor Isolde goes to bed.