Sleeping patterns

Our Sunday question was where do you sleep? Foley Monster and Pocket are bed sleepers. Yorkies are great dogs for bed sleeping, they’re tiny, so they don’t crowd you (although you would be amazed how much room Pocket can take up when she spreads across the bed) and when you’re cold you can grab them and stick them next to you turning them into little bed warmers. Often times, on very cold nights, Pocket is pulled back and forth so many times she needs to nap the entire next day.

When we first go to bed Foley decides to lick every inch her of Daddy’s face and hands like she’s Kirstie Alley at a Tasting Table. Pocket wants to play, first tug of war with a small rope, and then moving on to a larger one, while periodically joining Foley at the tasting table.

Then they will move to the desert table, which are things that have stuck to one another’s fur during the day. They lick and snip at one another, often leading to an over bite and a fight, which means Ted and I have to each grab one, lift them, pull them apart, while their legs still flap in the air like little propellers trying to get at one another.

Seconds later, when they’re put down on the bed, everyone is best friends again. Like all couples one is the first to sleep and that is Pocket. She will climb under the covers and settle down next to Mama. Foley goes back for seconds at Daddy’s tasting table, licking again, and sometimes, if she’s allowed humping her Daddy’s arm. The first night, when her new beaver toy was brought home, she began to hump that in bed, and we all turned away in shame.

Then Foley will mosey down to the end of the bed, and begin to scratch and spin. Sometimes, on cold night, when the comforter is at the end of the bed in wait for the late night temperature dip, Foley will decide she wants to be wrapped in it, and will sit at the foot, glaring at us, until one of us pulls up the comforter so she can burrow into it. She will sit the for half the night, those tiny brown eyes burning through the book I’m reading, until one of us puffs up the comforter for her, or she caves. Then she begins to scratch, and scratch, and scratch, until she finally settles down.

Sometime during the night, usually when I have to go to the bathroom, Foley will wake up and decide to go under the covers. If I don’t get up I’ll feel her paw scratching my shoulder and I, in my barely awake stupor, will lift the blanket, usually while she’s standing on it, and then shove her under the covers. I start to fall back to sleep when I hear: scratch, scratch, scratch, scratch for ten minutes. Sometimes I will tell her to stop it, and then I hear scratch, scratch, scratch, spin, spin, settle.

Pocket will usually sleep right up against me, but sometimes Foley will get up, walk over her, and look at her. Pocket will lift her head and see Foley’s “move your ass away from the warm spot next to Mommy.” Sometimes she’ll just put her head back down and Foley will either continue to stare at her, or begin trying to stick her nose under her, until Pocket moves, or scratch at me until I wake and move her. Pocket will then snuggle up with Ted.

Sometimes, if we sleep late, I will wake up with my hand resting near one of the dogs and my head nestled up against theirs and it is so sweet until I realize…..that….is…..not….her…head! Then I jump out of bed shaking and shivering like John Candy and Steve Martin in Planes, Trains and Automobiles.

But, for all of my complaining, there is nothing like waking up on a cold morning with a few hours left to sleep snuggled with warm dogs. That makes everything else worthwhile.