Sleep and Eats
Naps
Naptime has become something of a nightmare. Well, can you have a nightmare if no actual sleep is involved? At naptime, I put DaycareKid to bed on my son's bed. He sucks on his blanket and goes immediately to sleep.
Babygirl and I lay on my bed. She never really wants to nap, so I give her choices, which confuses her.
Babygirl: "I not sleep!"
Me: "Do you want to lay in Babygirl's bed or Mommy's bed?"
Babygirl: "Mommy's bed."
Pause. Climbs onto bed. Whines.
Babygirl: "No go night-night!"
Me: "Would you like to lay on Mommy's pillow or Daddy's pillow?"
Babygirl: "Mommy's pillow."
And so on. I curl on my side, face away from her and perch on the very edge of the king-sized bed. She presses her tiny body against my back and wiggles. And rotates like a giant-twirling earthworm. She flops a hand over my back, then inches up and back. Sometimes she leans over me to look into my face. She kicks my back.
Today she sang. "I. Love. You. You. Love. Me. We're. A. Hap-Py. Fal-i-my." And "Happy Birthday to you. Happy Birthday to you." Then she launched into a rendition of "She is a super-dooper pooper. She can potty with the best. No more diapers to get in her way. We are very impressed." But she sang only every other word, so it took me a while to figure out the song. It was like playing "Name That Tune": "I can name that tune in 10 syllables."
Anyway. I am personally in an unsatisfactory wake-sleep cycle in which I stay up past midnight, wake at 6:30 a.m., drag through the morning, fall asleep while I try to trick Babygirl into sleeping, and if I'm still tired, fall asleep again while I put her to bed at night. Then, tided over by my naps, I stay up until midnight again, kicking myself for staying awake so late.
Getting Babygirl to nap takes longer and longer these days. Today she sang and kicked and wiggled for over an hour. She finally fell asleep and so did I--long enough to have a nightmare about losing my purse on a bench in the city of Chicago and then boarding a train heading out of town, so far out of town that I was suddenly in the country. My twins were supposed to be following me and I lost them in the crowd, but I was more concerned about my lost purse than my lost kids.
Over the weekend, I thought I'd just abandon nap-time altogether. Saturday, I sneaked out of the house for an hour to make a thrift-store drop-off. Five minutes after I left, my husband suggested to Babygirl that she lay on the couch and she fell asleep immediately and slept the whole time I was gone. Sunday, while I was busily cleaning out the storage room and sorting through the toys, I realized I hadn't seen her for a long time. I went upstairs and found her sound asleep on her tummy, stretched out on the gliding rocker footstool, her feet propped on the chair and her head dangling over the edge of the footstool. (I did take pictures, but they aren't digital, so you'll have to be patient.)
So, she clearly still needs to nap. I need her to nap, who are we kidding?
Dinner Plans
I have a clear vision of Thanksgiving dinner, which I will host at my very own home with its still-green, not-gold hallway. I'll be cooking a 22 pound turkey, mashing my own potatoes, creating gravy from scratch, preparing my delicious corn souffle', and baking a pecan pie, from scratch, even the crust. I will set the table with Mikasa French Countryside, light orange candles and even mop the floor for the occasion. I have a puzzle with a pumpkin-autumnal theme, which I will have set up on a spare table so visitors and children can meander past and put together a few pieces as Norah Jones plays in the background.
It's the days between here and there that have me perplexed. I didn't plan to eat this week, prior to Thursday. Yesterday we had breakfast burritoes. Today? I have no plan. It's 3:38 p.m., and we have dinner at 5:00 p.m. around here.
If you had to take a test prior to becoming a homemaker . . . well, I'd probably be a pediatrician right now. No one in their right mind would license or certify me to run a household.
I'd better go search the bottom of the freezer for inspiration. For some reason, my kids and husband like to have dinner every single night. Even on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving.
Naptime has become something of a nightmare. Well, can you have a nightmare if no actual sleep is involved? At naptime, I put DaycareKid to bed on my son's bed. He sucks on his blanket and goes immediately to sleep.
Babygirl and I lay on my bed. She never really wants to nap, so I give her choices, which confuses her.
Babygirl: "I not sleep!"
Me: "Do you want to lay in Babygirl's bed or Mommy's bed?"
Babygirl: "Mommy's bed."
Pause. Climbs onto bed. Whines.
Babygirl: "No go night-night!"
Me: "Would you like to lay on Mommy's pillow or Daddy's pillow?"
Babygirl: "Mommy's pillow."
And so on. I curl on my side, face away from her and perch on the very edge of the king-sized bed. She presses her tiny body against my back and wiggles. And rotates like a giant-twirling earthworm. She flops a hand over my back, then inches up and back. Sometimes she leans over me to look into my face. She kicks my back.
Today she sang. "I. Love. You. You. Love. Me. We're. A. Hap-Py. Fal-i-my." And "Happy Birthday to you. Happy Birthday to you." Then she launched into a rendition of "She is a super-dooper pooper. She can potty with the best. No more diapers to get in her way. We are very impressed." But she sang only every other word, so it took me a while to figure out the song. It was like playing "Name That Tune": "I can name that tune in 10 syllables."
Anyway. I am personally in an unsatisfactory wake-sleep cycle in which I stay up past midnight, wake at 6:30 a.m., drag through the morning, fall asleep while I try to trick Babygirl into sleeping, and if I'm still tired, fall asleep again while I put her to bed at night. Then, tided over by my naps, I stay up until midnight again, kicking myself for staying awake so late.
Getting Babygirl to nap takes longer and longer these days. Today she sang and kicked and wiggled for over an hour. She finally fell asleep and so did I--long enough to have a nightmare about losing my purse on a bench in the city of Chicago and then boarding a train heading out of town, so far out of town that I was suddenly in the country. My twins were supposed to be following me and I lost them in the crowd, but I was more concerned about my lost purse than my lost kids.
Over the weekend, I thought I'd just abandon nap-time altogether. Saturday, I sneaked out of the house for an hour to make a thrift-store drop-off. Five minutes after I left, my husband suggested to Babygirl that she lay on the couch and she fell asleep immediately and slept the whole time I was gone. Sunday, while I was busily cleaning out the storage room and sorting through the toys, I realized I hadn't seen her for a long time. I went upstairs and found her sound asleep on her tummy, stretched out on the gliding rocker footstool, her feet propped on the chair and her head dangling over the edge of the footstool. (I did take pictures, but they aren't digital, so you'll have to be patient.)
So, she clearly still needs to nap. I need her to nap, who are we kidding?
Dinner Plans
I have a clear vision of Thanksgiving dinner, which I will host at my very own home with its still-green, not-gold hallway. I'll be cooking a 22 pound turkey, mashing my own potatoes, creating gravy from scratch, preparing my delicious corn souffle', and baking a pecan pie, from scratch, even the crust. I will set the table with Mikasa French Countryside, light orange candles and even mop the floor for the occasion. I have a puzzle with a pumpkin-autumnal theme, which I will have set up on a spare table so visitors and children can meander past and put together a few pieces as Norah Jones plays in the background.
It's the days between here and there that have me perplexed. I didn't plan to eat this week, prior to Thursday. Yesterday we had breakfast burritoes. Today? I have no plan. It's 3:38 p.m., and we have dinner at 5:00 p.m. around here.
If you had to take a test prior to becoming a homemaker . . . well, I'd probably be a pediatrician right now. No one in their right mind would license or certify me to run a household.
I'd better go search the bottom of the freezer for inspiration. For some reason, my kids and husband like to have dinner every single night. Even on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving.
posted by Melodee at Tuesday, November 23, 2004
3 Comments:
I have learned not to give my children choices or options when it comes to nap time. I have three children and I use to be able to say "Nap Time!" and they would react. But I'd always have one that wouldn't lay down and invaribly wake the other two up. So in order to K.I.S.S (Keep It Simple Stupid) at home, there is no more nap time, much to the chagrin of my wife, babysitter and school. Yes, they are sometimes grouchy come nighttime but the tradeoff is that they sleep very, very well when it's "Bed Time!" which is about 8pm.
My mother is STILL telling stories about how impossible it was to get ME to nap, and I'm 39; apparently, once I figured out how to rock the crib until it came out of the chocks, and then bang against one side of it until it had rolled to block the door, making it necessary for my mother to get a broomstick under the door to push the crib far enough back that she could get through the door, she realized that it was time to give up, lol.
I thank Buddha, Allah and Jesus every day for naptime. Mine still go to sleep without much of a scene.
The dinner thing is me too....I have no plans usually, just make something at the last minute. Two nights ago, when I was dead from exhaustion after working overnight, the kids and I all had turkey sandwiches, fruit and cheese. Healthy, easy and there were ni dishes to wash because we ate on paper plates! So, keep some sandwich material in the fridge at all times :)
Stacy
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