Sleep

There are few things in the world better than a good night sleep, and with my children a full and restful night is rare. So waking up this morning at 6 am was very nice. Of course, I woke up at 4 o'clock like normal, but I got back to sleep and feel so much better than I have in days.

Both of my kids still wake up almost every night. Maya cries out for milk or says there are bugs in her bed. Sure, she's only three years old, but my goodness it is so annoying to deal with that on a nightly basis. On Monday night she woke up about 4:45, crawled in bed on mom's side and proceeded to start talking. After 10 minutes or so, I took her back to her bed where she asked me to lay down with her. "No problem," I thought, "she'll fall asleep pretty soon." Boy was I wrong. She decided it was party time and there was no sleep for anyone after 5:30. Even Julian woke up, and that boy definitely needs his sleep. It was comforting when he began waking up and crawling in bed with me between 4:15 and 4:30 a few years ago because my mother passed away at 4:25 in the morning. When he began doing that af few days after my mom died I took it as a sign that she was still there, that her spirit somehow became part of him and that was her way of comforting me. Scientifically, I know that's improbably; plus, I don't even believe in religion, but the whole idea was still comforting. After a couple years of this, however, it did get annoying. That too, I attribute to my mother. Like many moms, she just didn't quite know when to stop. It seems that the same is true of children, and as much as I try to remember that when I am old, these days will be looked upon with a sense of wonderful nostalgia, but for now I just want to keep getting some good sleep two, maybe three nights a week. Is that too much to ask? I beg of you, my beautiful, wonderful children, is that too much to ask at 3:30 in the morning.

Good night Little Bear. Good night Little Bird. Sleep tight. For the love of eveything good in this world, please sleep tight. Please, sleep through the night.