We have experienced some of the childhood sleep issues that many parents face. We have had infants who didn't sleep well at night. We have had nap-time issues. We have had kids that had difficulty falling asleep at night. We've had night waking. We've had night terrors. Now we can add another sleep-time issue to our list. We now have a sleep walker.
Over the past 2 months or so, Briggs has started sleep walking. Thankfully this usually occurs about an hour or two after he falls asleep when Zach and I are still typically awake. It does not happen every night, but has been about once or twice a week. Briggs has wandered downstairs one time. He fell partly down the stairs another time, as the thump alerted me that someone was up and I found him curled up on the landing of the stairs. He has wandered into our room a few times. Once he walked into the girls' room, curled up on the end of Adelie's bed, and went to sleep. Once he walked into our room, curled up on the floor, and went to sleep. The other night I had just checked on the kids before getting myself ready for bed. Everyone was sleeping soundly. I went into the bathroom to use the restroom and brush my teeth. Upon coming out, I realized that the light was on in Briggs' room. I went into his room and Briggs was standing in the middle of his room, putting on another pajama shirt over his current pajamas. I asked him what he was doing. He replied in an exasperated tone, "I'm doing THIS." I helped him take off the second shirt and walked him back to bed. As he was climbing into bed, he murmured, "This is boring. This is boring." And then he fell back asleep. Briggs never remembers these excursions in the morning.
There is a little concern over this new phase of sleep-time issues. I worry that Briggs will fall down the stairs or walk into something or wander somewhere in the house without us realizing it. I am thankful for our home alarm system that should alert us if Briggs goes downstairs after we are in bed or if he opens a door. If Briggs indeed thinks sleep walking is boring, maybe this will just be a short-lived phase. Here's hoping.
