House of No Sleep

As a mom, I am soft hearted probably to a fault.

This morning, for instance. I got out of bed at 7:45, put on the tea kettle and made the school lunches, and at 8 I went to wake up the kids, so they'll be ready to leave for school by 8:30. Sylvan was hard to wake and when he opened his little eye, it was bloodshot and he whimpered "I only got one hour of sleep!". Aww. I do remember waking in the night and seeing him maneuver his skinny little body through the crack in the bathroom door into my room without opening it, and then he slipped away when he saw me move. His sister kept him up late into the night.

She was awake until at least 10:30, which is typical. I mean, I can make them go to bed, but you really can't make someone sleep.

I started bedtime proceedings at 8:30. Read a few chapters of Pippi Longstocking, gave them a snack, supervised tooth brushing and face washing, tucked them in to their beds, and put on their book on tape. With Zelia I made some extra effort last night so that she would go to sleep better. I laid down in her bed with her and sang her some songs. None of that worked though and she was still up bouncing around.

When I tried to wake her up this morning, it was not good. She yelled, and refused to open her eyes.

My natural inclination is just to let them stay home and sleep. Is that un-mom-ish of me? The school they go to is flexible and part time, they can legally attend only 2.5 days per week. So I suppose I will just send them tomorrow.

I will have them do their homework, and eat their already packed lunches if they get hungry, and I will studiously neglect them while I work. Also I will make them clean their rooms and go to bed early tonight.

I don't know what the point of this is, but there you go.