02 May 2008

Who Needs Sleep?

Allow me to paint you a picture, if you will, of an active toddler's sleeping "pattern". If you can call it that.

Tuesday, 8:30 P.M. - Bedtime goes surprisingly well. The screaming lasts only minutes, before a bedside book calms her down and she goes down without a fuss. She insists that I leave the bedroom light on, and I comply. It's a small price to pay.

Wednesday, 5:50 A.M. - The sound of Mandi leaving for work wakes Lily. She's up and at 'em.

1:30 P.M. - Lily passes out on the futon in the playroom. She sleeps for about an hour.

8:30 P.M. - Bedtime, again without incident.


Thursday, 1:30 A.M. - Mandi hears Lily's bedroom door open and sends me to interfere. I arrive to find the child in a ball on the floor, still mostly asleep, but completely in the hallway. I return her to the bed, again with the light on, but without further incident.

5:20 A.M. - Wide awake, this time before I'm finished making our breakfast. She joins us and has some waffles.

9:00 A.M. - Lily falls asleep in the car on the way to the gym. Her nap lasts less than 10 minutes.

12:15 P.M. - On the way home from running errands, she falls asleep in the car. The grocery store, where we had been, is less than a mile from the house. Bringing her in to the house wakes her up and she does not nap again.

6:45 P.M. - After her bath, wrapped neatly in her pink bathrobe, Lily falls fast asleep. She would sleep through being carried up to her bed.

Friday, Midnight. - Me talking in my sleep wakes Mandi, and as she rolls over she sees Lily's door open. She asks me to go find her, and I do, again asleep on the floor in the hallway. I put her back in bed without further incident.

4:50 A.M. - Lily is awake, comes downstairs and turns on the TV while Mandi gets ready for work. I'm still asleep.

5:25 A.M. - I'm working on breakfast, Mandi's back upstairs finishing getting ready. Lily is asleep on the futon.

5:45 A.M. - As Mandi gets ready to leave, Lily wakes up, apparently hungry. She has some waffles and we walk Avery to school (not at 5:45).

9:00 A.M. - As we leave for the gym, Lily yawns and says, "Daddy, I sure am a sleepy Beanie!"

11:45 A.M. - After the gym, a stop at the library, and some playing at the park, we load up in the car to head home for lunch.

11:47 A.M. - A few bites of trail mix and Lily's asleep in the carseat.

12:10 P.M. - Carrying her inside wakes her up, and she is demonstrably cranky.

12:12 P.M. - Lily goes into a full blown crying tantrum because Daddy doesn't want to "come upstairs and see my magical room." What was I thinking.

12:14 P.M. - Crying subsides, and then dies.

12:15 P.M. - I investigate the silence, only to find Lily asleep on the second stair.


12:25 P.M. - Lily tumbles harmlessly down the steps and wakes up. I arrive to find her on her knees, just looking at me silently.

12:27 P.M. - Daddy carries her to the futon and covers her up with her fuzzy blanket, where she falls asleep again within the minute.

12:35 P.M. - Hunger apparently overwhelms exhaustion at this point, when Lily wakes once again and makes her way to the table to get her lunch.

Our story concludes at this point, but I leave you with the following song, which ironically came on in the shuffle sequence right as I'd sat down to type this story. Just press play.

01 May 2008

Girls Rule . . .

. . . and "Boys Drule." I'll bet you didn't know that. However, I have irrefutable visual evidence of this little factoid. Notice that she took care to cross out the "Daily" in Daily Reminders, as if to say that the fact that boys drool is to be a permanent reminder, not reserved solely for this week.

It's just so funny to me to see stuff like this from Avery. Despite my having grown up with two younger sisters, this is completely foreign to me. I mean what's next? Boys are icky? Boys are gross? Or does the pendulum swing the other direction . . do boys become cute soon? Oh God, please tell me they don't.