The Elusive Night of Sleep

For two nights in a row I’ve had a pattern. And not one I care to repeat; I do not need THIS much order in my life.

The magic hours seem to be 12:00am and 3:00am. Before I even begin to describe it, you have to strike up the circus music because this is a 3 ring circus. Make it one ring for every child.

Flash back to Tuesday night:

Child #3, 4 years of age, must sleep with his door shut for crawling in to bed with Child #1 the night before. Not that big of a deal, BUT it destroys the night of sleep for two kiddos and then everybody pays the price the next day. This is NOT something he enjoys but it works like a charm. I put his night stand light on, said our nightly prayer, gave him a kiss and reminded him that tonight “we have to shut your door, for going into Child #1’s room last night”. The bottom lip begins to quiver and he struggles to keep it together, “But I’ll stay in my room”. “I know you will but this is for last night”. He never did cry but he was right on that edge. I chuckled later on at how much he hard he was trying to keep his composure.

Child #1, meanwhile, has a terrible coughing fit. We do an asthma treatment before bed and it never lets up. K and I go to bed around 10:30 and it’s STILL cough central. I get up take the cougher downstairs and give her a dose of Delsum. By 11:30, no change. So I tell the cougher that she can sleep downstairs in the guest room, trying to save sleep for the rest of the family. “Ok”. By midnight there’s a knock on our door. “I’m not comfortable downstairs; I want to be in my room”. “Thank you for the statement Child #1, now go to bed”

3:00am – Another knock on our door; Child #3, who is darn near sleep walking, is babbling about a light. I guide him back to his bed, give him a kiss and shut the door. The only thing K & I can figure is that he woke up to his light being on instead of off.

This will surely drive me insane.

Flash back to last night:

Children #1 & #3 are at their mom’s, under our joint custody arrangement.

It’s a dark and stormy night (no really it is). We keep a few windows open to get a draft through the house. We try to convince Child#2 to open her window so she is not sleeping in a sauna. It’s been humid and the house feels stagnant. No dice, she’s going down in flames before that window opens. Ok.

10:30pm – Child #2 is up and hot. You can sleep downstairs in guest room or open your window. Those two choices turn out to be no dice; she’s sweatin’ this one out.

12:00am – I think Child #2 knocked on the door (I’m not sure I was somewhere between Care Bears and Charlie’s Angels in my dreams). K got up to take care of it. Upon return K says that Child #2 was informing her, “it’s raining and you need the shut the windows”. We are SO lucky to have found out we have window patrol living under our roof. I think K told her to go back to bed and not to worry about it. I’m not sure because I was trying to find the Angels again.

3:00am – YES, again. I wake up to K going, “ssssst. Sssssst”, which is the universal sign to the cat that she better get the heck out of the way becomes hell is coming down on her. Then I heard it; our clawless cat is scratching on our wicker hamper. I grab her by the scruff and toss her out the door. We do not let the cat in our room; she’s too excited to be around us and will drive us insane.

Two nights with exactly the same pattern; if I don’t find my way back to slumberland tonight I may never find my Care Bears or Angels.