My Little Life: Sleep, Glorious Sleep

October 26, 2008

Sleep, Glorious Sleep

Tonight was one of those nights where if motherhood was a pass/ fail test, I think I would be in dire need of a remedial course. The kids and I shared a lovely day together, complete with two hours at the park, plenty of peanut butter and honey sandwiches, and more crayons on the floor than you can shake a stick at (well, not that you'd want to shake sticks at crayons, but you know...).

After returning from the park at around 6:30, I was pretty sure that the kids were just about ready to start winding down and get ready for bed. I figured I would let them watch a show while I sat with a cold glass of chocolate milk to recharge before bath time. Apparently, by the time we were ready to start the night time routines (bath, book, Go Diego Go, SLEEP!!!!) they were already overly tired- you know, the overly dramatic, talk a mile a minute, ignore any semblance of reason type of tired. I decided to salvage the evening by cutting my losses and skipping straight to the SLEEP portion of our nightly routine. I turned on a kid friendly movie and laid them down. After an hour, it became increasingly obvious the kids were tired beyond reason. In desperation, I pulled out the parental trump card- I loaded them into the car and took them for a drive. After 30 minutes of hearing their near-constant fighting, bickering, and whining all concentrated in an area roughly the size of oh, perhaps, one Jeep Grand Cherokee, I implored them to stop fighting, sit still, and go to sleep. The squawking crescendos, along with my stress and aggravation level, until...cue Handel's Hallelujah Chorus...SILENCE! Glorious Silence!

I know one of these days, I will think back and wonder why I let myself get all worked up over the kids' refusing sleep. One of these days, there will be much bigger fish to fry- drugs, peer pressure, basketball coaches... but for now, here's a tribute to sleep...