I have forgotten what uninterrupted sleep means – it has been years since I had one. Maybe I am to blame too – every whimper and cry wakes me up. Sometimes I rush to kuttyma’s bed and pat her back to sleep. At times I just lie awake waiting to see if she is going scream out. It has become so much of a routine that it hardly feels like I have been up 5+ times a night (or so I tell myself).

More often than not, kuttyma has dreams – vivid and colorful I would assume – that make her scream in her sleep. I attempt to wake her up and at times she speaks incoherently (that is quite norm even when she is awake and it takes me quite a while when I am completely awake to understand her American accented Tanglish).

This night stands out – she whimpers I open my eyes and wait. And then I heard it “My book, mine, my book, no-no”. I had to hear it one more time to make sure I heard it right.

Funny my daughter dreams that someone is stealing her books – and that is her worst nightmare. I smiled and sent a small prayer hoping she never loses the love for books before sleep took over.