The Sleep Dance

Since Magnolia came into our lives, many things have changed. Some of our favorite traditions are gone (like sleeping in, staying up late, etc.), and we've gained several new ones.

One of my favorite new traditions comes around Noli's bedtime. We don't have a "system" for putting the baby to bed, so we rely on something metaphysical, even a bit superstitious. You've probably heard of the rain dance done by various native american tribes in North America. We have something similar, but we do it when we want the baby to sleep rather than when we want rain.

Instead of turquoise and feathers, I'm usually just in my underwear because we're about ready to go to bed for the night. And instead of singing and drums, we're completely silent, because we don't want to wake the baby.

The dance starts from a sitting position on the couch. The baby is in my lap, and I bounce my heel vigorously on the floor. This creates a vibrating, bouncing rhythm with my knee that seems to sooth the baby to sleep.

Once Noli's eyes have closed, I slowly lean forward and cradle her in my arms, while continuing the vibrating heel and knee. As I shift my weight off of the couch and onto my feet, I can't keep my knee bouncing, so I begin bouncing my hind quarters instead. This keeps the soothing rhythm that helps the baby stay asleep.

I continue bouncing as I slowly start taking steps, wiggling one leg and then the next. It looks like I'm having a bad acid trip, but as I alternate wiggling legs, Noli stays asleep. When the sleep maker smiles on me, I can make it all the way to Noli's crib without her eyes opening.

The final movements of the sleep dance are the most important. Now stationary by her crib, I move Noli away from my body, continuing the rocking motion by wiggling my knees back and forth. I slowly lower myself over the crib, cradling Noli as carefully as possible.

The further forward I lean, the less I am able to continue the bouncing motion that soothes the baby. The lower she gets to the cradle, the less I wiggle my knees and the more I wiggle my hips and rump.

Finally, as she reaches the mattress, I slowly slide my arms from underneath her, while bouncing my hind end just enough to keep a slight rocking motion in my arms. I carefully lay her head on the mattress, and keep one hand on her side, continuing the rocking motion.

The rocking slowly subsides, and I focus all my sleepy energy into her little body. Then I glide away from the sleep altar as silently as I can.

The sleep dance is a beautiful thing. To the modern world, it may appear that we with a  barbaric god, but I have watched the sleep dance bring sleep to the baby.

When all goes well, we show our gratitude to the sleep giver by going to sleep ourselves.

Our home is rich with new traditions and culture.