Sleep Tickling

When Eliot was little his parents use to give him tickles. It was a good soother and Eliot was immediately addicted to this lovely past time as a child. His mom reports that he would snuggle up next to her on the couch put his arm out, look up and say tickles? As little Eliot grew he continued to like getting tickles. When we first started dating he introduced me to these magical tickles and admittedly they are lovely. Though, some times tickles are too ticklish for me, more often than not, they are soothing. Whether at the movies or cuddled up watching Criminal Minds, Eliot likes getting tickles.

In my sleepless nights, I have discovered many more little sleep habits of Eliot's. He just doesn't snore in his sleep but he is a cacophony of sleepy entertainment. I was beginning to feel a little abusive because I just started yelling at him when he snored because nothing else helped. "Eliot, stop snoring!" and he would respond completely in the middle of his REM cycle, "I'm not snoring" and then diligently continuing to do so. So he snores, he talks in his sleep with no recollection of doing so AND it turns out he tickles. Yes. He tickles in his sleep. Suddenly, as I watch Jon Stewart make another sarcastic, yet poignant remark regarding BP, Eliot's arm goes straight up in the air. Then I see, he is giving himself tickles. He changes arms. He does it for awhile and he rolls over and goes back to snoring. I had to document the activity for the world, well mostly for me. I wanted to be sure that my sleeplessness was not causing hallucinations. Evidently, I am fine. My baby daddy, on the other hand, is a freak.