Sleep is something that is always under-appreciated. That is, until its absence. Lack of sleep pays a toll. It affects your energy. It affects your ability to function. It affects your alertness. It affects your attitude. It affects, well, everything.
This past week, sleep has been a valued commodity, mainly due to its absence. Both of the boys have a cough and, even though it doesn't seem to affect Daniel's ability to sleep, it definitely affects Simon's. And, consequently, it affects mine. It seems that if anyone is to wake up at any time for any reason, then I'm awake too. The difference is, often the person who initially woke up will be back to sleep shortly (within 15 minutes). It takes me almost an hour. I spend time listening to make sure they're still asleep. I'll wonder who's bed the twins are in. I'll wonder if I'll be hearing the gate crashing down outside the twins' room and having Simon pounce on me at any moment. Or maybe I'll just be thinking that I need to go to the bathroom. But once the kids (including husband) wakes me up, I'm up for, probably on average, at least an hour.
The unfortunate part of this is that every once in a while, it takes it's toll. My patience disappears. I become very short-tempered. I become more likely to just take the "easy way out". And today, I don't think I'm the only one who can say that. Rachel went to gymnastics and, about 1/3 of the way through the class she had a complete meltdown for no reason at all. According to Kevin (who was the parent accompanying her since I had taken Simon to music class at the same time), she just sat down and started screaming. It had progressed to the point where she had to leave the gym for a while. That hasn't happened in a VERY long time. She loves gymnastics and, even though she may not follow directions as well as the teachers would like, she rarely causes problems for the other kids in the class (that wasn't the case when we tried her in dance which is one of the reasons we reverted back to the gymnastics [schedule issues notwithstanding]). But today I think that she as well as her teachers and classmates were happy when 12:30 came around and it was time for her to head home.
Simon didn't do much better, but in a very different way. I had taken him to his music class where, although he doesn't exactly follow directions, can do things independently. Not today. He refused to do whatever the teacher was asking of him. He would go up to the front of the room to get an instrument (or put it away), but not come back to his piano when he was done -- he would either sit where they do "circle time" or he'd stop at someone else's piano and try to take their books or instruments, so I was chasing him around the room for much of the class. But unlike his sister, he didn't have an actual "meltdown". He was simply disruptive and a royal pain to everyone he was around. The meltdowns happened later.
On an unrelated note, Simon was singing earlier today....."Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells away....." -- sometimes cuteness makes up for so much.
But, needless to say, we're all tired around here today. The twins were asleep practically from the moment we said goodnight and I think Daniel fell asleep quickly too (he usually does). So, hopefully we'll make it an early night. And even more so, hopefully everyone will get a good night's sleep tonight. Lord knows we can use it!!!!!
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