Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Back to School Night Insomnia

There are three occasions on which you can almost guarantee my children will have a hard time falling asleep:
  1. Christmas Eve
  2. The night before vacation
  3. The night before school starts, a.k.a. last night
The evening started out well enough.

9:20 p.m.: Abby and I finish our nightly reading of Harry Potter while Ian begrudgingly takes a shower. Everyone brushes their teeth (quite possibly for the first time this summer), and it's time to hit the mattresses.

9:40 p.m.: Abby comes upstairs in tears. "I'm not going to be able to sleep." Mom's reply, "Read a book."

9:45 p.m:  Abby reappears having "read the book." "I want to sleep, I just know I can't." Mom gently sends her back to bed and this time sleep wins out and she stays there until...5:00 a.m. when "I had a bad dream." She tries to find me in my bed but this is where the Ian scenario plays out.

9:47 p.m.: Ian appears in my room noting that he can't sleep because the dog is taking up too much room in his bed. Mom's teeth-gritted response, "Move the dog."

9:57 p.m.: Ian reports back in tears that moving the dog is not working. Mom's irritable response, "Ian, you need to get to sleep!" Result: More tears. Mom offers Ian her bed and moves down to Ian's room where, in fact, the dog is taking up an unreasonable amount of mattress. Mom reads a book. Tries to coexist with dog.

10:11-11:00 p.m.: Mom gives up trying to sleep with dog and moves to spare bedroom where she plays Texas Hold Em on her Blackberry because now she can't sleep. Buzzing noise from suspected stink bug as well guinea pig activity make this room inhospitable.

11:01 p.m.: Mom moves back to Ian's room and repositions the damn dog at which point dog decides she needs to go outside.

1:32 a.m.: Dog needs to go out again.

3:04 a.m.: Dog needs to go out...again. Not sure which was affecting her digestive system most, the hot dog rolls, the pizza, the cheez-its, or the pretzels.

5:00 a.m.: Abby is upstairs looking for mom. I hear dad direct her to the spare bedroom since that's where he saw mom last. She announces that she's unable to find me. Returns upstairs. Rob sends her back down and she finally locates mom in Ian's room. Abby climbs into bed with me and the dog and rubs my back till the memory of the bad dream subsides. She then reports that she's going back to her room.

5:30 a.m.: Dog needs to go out one more time and now the cat decides to make a break for it as well. Mom crashes on the couch this time, knowing the cat will return home any minute, crying like she'd been wronged...that is assuming the fox from the woods behind the house doesn't get her first.

5:45 a.m.: Trash collectors come rolling down the street with their squeaky brakes. Cat comes home. Mom falls back to sleep on couch until Ian's alarm goes off at 6:30 a.m.

6:30 a.m.: Bleary-eyed mom is in shower, functioning on five hours sleep, tops.

I'm sure this night-before-school-starts scenario results from a combination of excitement and anxiety (for me as well as the kids). I know they are both looking forward to and yet nervous about what is to come less than 12 hours later. I'm not sure if they could tell me exactly what they're thinking, but I remember very clearly, every single year, praying that God would "make me normal this year." Back-to-school anxiety dreams were a given. Being a kid is much tougher business than I give them credit for, and it's a time in my life I wouldn't wish to return to for even a minute.

Here's hoping that you and the student in your life get enough sleep and that God answers your back-to-school prayers!

2 comments:

Emily said...

Man - thats rough! We only had two sightings of Noah after he went to bed. But you nailed it. I remember not being able to sleep either. Doesnt make me anymore sympathtic though... You are going to need a serious vacation just to sleep my friend.

Joanzbenz said...

Kim, You were in more beds in one night than Lindsey Lohan!