Lately, Mia has been able to sleep through the night. Unfortunately, she had a rough night sleeping last night. She woke up crying around 1:40am. This alone wouldn’t be so bad. But then she woke up crying twice more, once at 2:40-ish and then at 4:20-ish.

Each time she wakes up you go through the checklist: Is she hungry? Does her diaper need changing? Is she cold? None of these seemed to be the case last night. I think it came down to her not wanting to be alone, perhaps a night terror attack. Mia was only comforted by having her back and head rubbed while we stood next to her crib.

I’m sure she’ll have a few rough nights in the future. I imagine a time when she’s older when she finds the dark corner in her room scary, or an unfamiliar noise outside will startle her awake. She’ll scream or cry, come running into our room and ask if she can sleep in our bed. We’ll say OK, but only for a little while. She’ll fall asleep in between Farrah and I. We’ll pick up her little self and place her back into her own bed. We’ll rub her back and her head, making sure she’s comfortably asleep.

I know there will be a time when she will no longer come running to our room. But I can imagine a time when she still will, and I smile. I smile because she’s our little girl who’s coming to mommy and daddy for reassurance that everything is OK. And it is OK, even in the middle of the night.

I smile because she’s our little girl.