No Sleep Till Des Moines
Abbie woke up around 5am Saturday morning, about three hours before her normal wake time. She wasn’t angry, irritated, or even irked by her wakeful state. She simply lied in bed, softly singing to herself for upwards of an hour, irking me by preventing me from falling back to sleep.
On a normal day, her early wake time wouldn’t be a problem. I’d just limp her insomnia-shortened temper through until naptime, and then I’d shut the door, turn off the monitor, and take my own nap to recoup from her cranky screaming. hat may sound like a problem, but I don’t view it that way since at least one of my children is typically cranky and screaming.
Saturday was no ordinary day, though. Saturday was a travel day, the day we were to drive three hours to meet relatives who don’t want to hear screaming and cranky children no matter how emphatically they claim children are a blessing. Saturday morning was the kids’ last chance for a good, crankiness-eradicating sleep until we returned Sunday, and Abbie was singing her way through it.
I should’ve taken her singing as a warning to not make the trip. When I broke my rearview mirror trying to shove a few too many cubic-inches of stuff into the car, I should’ve unpacked everything and sat on my butt at home all weekend, or at least sat on my butt as much as I ever do all weekend. I knew relatives were expecting the kids, though, and dutifully loaded them into the car so they could spread cheer and germs.
A couple years ago, a tired Abbie was no problem during car rides. I planned journeys home to coincide with naptime so she’d sleep in the car. Today she refuses to nap in the car. The boys can still nap in the car, but not for long with Abbie thrashing and screaming periodically in the car seat next to them.
I kept Abbie entertained with a mix of music CD’s and DVD’s. When those failed to placate her about halfway through our three-hour car ride, I spent 90 minutes handing Goldfish one at a time to her from the driver’s seat to her seat directly behind me. Today my shoulder hurts. The boys napped for about 20 minutes during the car ride, about half of their normal nap time. I handed them Tasteeos during that fateful 90 minutes.
You might think they’d be dying for their afternoon nap, but the only people dying were the adults. Abbie refused to calm down, and the boys only took a half-nap, but only after I removed her from their room so they could concentrate on sleeping instead of on their sister’s adventures exploiting childproofing deficiencies in their guest’s house.
You might think they’d be dying to fall asleep that night, but not so much. Abbie refused to calm down again. Her 9:30 bedtime drifted into 10:00, then 10:30, and finally 11:00. Sometime around 11:30, she finally wore out and drifted off to sleep, letting her brothers catch some quality sleep as well.
Everyone slept in the next morning, especially me. Ian woke about 8:30, Tory about 8:45, and Abbie about 9:00. Not surprisingly, the boys were ready for their morning nap by 10:00. I kept them awake until their normal naptime at 11:30 and woke them at 12:30 to keep them on something approaching their regular schedule.
The car ride home went much like the previous day’s ride, except the screaming started sooner. They watched the same DVD three times, with me handing snacks into the back seat virtually the entire ride. Somehow, we made it home without anyone suffering a meltdown, though I can’t say the same thing about the rest of the night at home.
I put everyone down to bed promptly at their regular 9:30 bedtime. The next morning, everyone slept in. There was no 5:00 singing.
On a normal day, her early wake time wouldn’t be a problem. I’d just limp her insomnia-shortened temper through until naptime, and then I’d shut the door, turn off the monitor, and take my own nap to recoup from her cranky screaming. hat may sound like a problem, but I don’t view it that way since at least one of my children is typically cranky and screaming.
Saturday was no ordinary day, though. Saturday was a travel day, the day we were to drive three hours to meet relatives who don’t want to hear screaming and cranky children no matter how emphatically they claim children are a blessing. Saturday morning was the kids’ last chance for a good, crankiness-eradicating sleep until we returned Sunday, and Abbie was singing her way through it.
I should’ve taken her singing as a warning to not make the trip. When I broke my rearview mirror trying to shove a few too many cubic-inches of stuff into the car, I should’ve unpacked everything and sat on my butt at home all weekend, or at least sat on my butt as much as I ever do all weekend. I knew relatives were expecting the kids, though, and dutifully loaded them into the car so they could spread cheer and germs.
A couple years ago, a tired Abbie was no problem during car rides. I planned journeys home to coincide with naptime so she’d sleep in the car. Today she refuses to nap in the car. The boys can still nap in the car, but not for long with Abbie thrashing and screaming periodically in the car seat next to them.
I kept Abbie entertained with a mix of music CD’s and DVD’s. When those failed to placate her about halfway through our three-hour car ride, I spent 90 minutes handing Goldfish one at a time to her from the driver’s seat to her seat directly behind me. Today my shoulder hurts. The boys napped for about 20 minutes during the car ride, about half of their normal nap time. I handed them Tasteeos during that fateful 90 minutes.
You might think they’d be dying for their afternoon nap, but the only people dying were the adults. Abbie refused to calm down, and the boys only took a half-nap, but only after I removed her from their room so they could concentrate on sleeping instead of on their sister’s adventures exploiting childproofing deficiencies in their guest’s house.
You might think they’d be dying to fall asleep that night, but not so much. Abbie refused to calm down again. Her 9:30 bedtime drifted into 10:00, then 10:30, and finally 11:00. Sometime around 11:30, she finally wore out and drifted off to sleep, letting her brothers catch some quality sleep as well.
Everyone slept in the next morning, especially me. Ian woke about 8:30, Tory about 8:45, and Abbie about 9:00. Not surprisingly, the boys were ready for their morning nap by 10:00. I kept them awake until their normal naptime at 11:30 and woke them at 12:30 to keep them on something approaching their regular schedule.
The car ride home went much like the previous day’s ride, except the screaming started sooner. They watched the same DVD three times, with me handing snacks into the back seat virtually the entire ride. Somehow, we made it home without anyone suffering a meltdown, though I can’t say the same thing about the rest of the night at home.
I put everyone down to bed promptly at their regular 9:30 bedtime. The next morning, everyone slept in. There was no 5:00 singing.
posted by Matt at
11:57 PM
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