Lilo and Stich are old enough to play together in the living room, which is childproofed, while I snooze. But do they? No. Hell, no.
Spock is still asleep. I could also be asleep. But Lilo and Stitch cannot really enjoy themselves without fighting if they know my eyes are closed. They also cannot potty without getting into a loud argument about correct toilet paper usage, but this only happens if they know I’m off in the land of nod. Moreover, they both develop these high-pitched whines, special whines used only when I’m trying to catch a few winks, that sound like some unholy combination of a wasp and space invader has entered my home. Not so much with the sleeping through that.
Now that I am awake, and bitter about it I might add, are they fighting or whining or arguing about how many squares of toilet paper constitute the limit of ass-wiping needs? No. They are not. They are ignoring me. Playing quietly. Secure in the knowledge that Mommy was saved from getting ‘too much’ sleep.
Like guards in a POW camp, they know that if they keep me tired, it will easier to break me later.
My two children NEVER slept all night-they both look and act just like their father who only needs 5 hours of sleep. This caused many, many problems when we were first married-at one point I told him that if he did not let me sleep, I was going to throw something at him and then beat him to death. The children soon learned not to wake me up-they would pay in ways that they could not imagine. They could wake me up if there was blood-spurting blood -only. Our son became so good at letting me sleep that he would even host his friends for a midnight cookout and all his friends knew the rule-DO NOT wake up Mom. I would wake up to find no food in the house and boys asleep all over the house which was fine with me-I got a good night’s sleep and could fix breakfast for the hoard whenever they woke up.
I just had a coversation with them early on-What do you need in the middle of the night or early in the morning that we can get ready NOW so you don’t bother me in the morning? Cereal on the table, milk in a thermos, juice boxes out. Measure out that toilet paper ahead of time and put it in a box by the potty. The girls can do ALL this stuff-chores are good training for the future as we all know. Good luck!
Sharon, I think we are sistahs.
I absolutely loathe the mornings, and once they were old enough to fend for themselves, they learned that everything ran much much better if mom got some sleep. We definitely did the “get it ready ahead of time” night-time routine.
Now that my kids are older they come and ask me questions while I’m sleeping. Like “Mom can I finish the ice cream?” or “Mom can we play that really violent video game that you forbid us to bring in the house?”
They know that I will answer them in my sleep and not remember it later. They also know I always say yes when I’m sleeping.
Little buggers.
Sweetie, you have THREE babies. You are already broken. You just don’t know it yet.
We always woke my mom up by trying to NOT wake her up. Our whispers were high pitched, and we would argue about who was in charge. Maybe that’s what’s happening with your girls? You’re out of commission, so they’re battling each other for who runs the house?
lol.
Content yourself with the knowledge that when they are teenagers you will be able to get your revenge!!
I used to blast Michael Bolton up the stairs to get my kids up on Saturday morning. “You’re sleeping your life away”, I’d proclaim. Little did they know my mom used to blast Andy Williams up the stairs and say the same thing to me, back in the day.
And then they leave home and you could get all the sleep you want – and your damn internal alarm clock won’t let you sleep past 6:00 anyway.
Good news/bad news: they will grow out of this…. and then you will miss it. Really, you will.
On the other hand, when they are old enough to move out they will come back and still do it, only as young adults.
Julie
My gdaughter is 12. She’ll be 13 in March. She has just started to drive her mother crazy. Argumentative, whiny, demanding, you name it. I love her dearly and I told her, I’ll watch her fight with her momma quietly cause her momma drove me right around the bend at that age. But I draw the line at her being mean to her little brother. I can already tell that he doesn’t understand and he’s a little hurt. He’s 9 and still a sweety.
I told my daughter today as she was complaining, she better just develop some major patience cause it’s her turn!
Except for needing less sleep than me, mine didn’t bother me sleeping. Now all hell broke loose if I ever got on the telephone.