Violet's sleeping habits have been horrendous the past couples of months. I've been trying desperately to keep her from napping...but usually I have to let her nap or I go insane. There's only so much running around putting things back together that I can do during a day. I don't understand why this kid won't play with toys! WHY!??? WHY must she play with household items? WHat's the grab of the stapler? I just don't get it.
So, if she naps she's up...and she's up until 1 or 2am...and she's tired...but can't get to sleep. This means, unlike most normal children, she speeds up. She just gets faster and faster, and MEANER. By midnight I'm usually ready to get the duct tape out and call Child protective services to turn myself in. It takes massive amounts of love and patience to not tape her to the wall.
The other night I was up late with her and fell asleep "on duty". Not acceptable. But I was so tired. I had a long day at the Writing Center that day in which I actually had to say, "I UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU MEAN! BUT YOU CAN'T WRITE IT THAT WAY!" to a student who insisted that she shouldn't change her paper...whatever, it's your paper lady. Anyway, I was beat. The big 3, or the triumverant of miscreants, as I call Maisy/Wyatt and James Henry, thought that the evening would be best spent fighting and tattling...and after a huge threat from me to tell Santa to NEVER COME TO THIS HOUSE AGAIN, they went to sleep.
Violet was in her chair, clutching her sippy cup, watching Gnomeo and Juliet looking as if she would soon pass out. I remember looking at her and then I remember waking up. The living room was exceptionally dark. "Hmm...I thought. Wasn't the lamp on when I fell asleep? How long have I been asleep?" I stood up and instantly shook off a box of Lucky Charms cereal. Violet had dumped an entire box on me, even got some down my shirt, while I was sleeping. That startled me, to say the least, and then I looked around alert and in terror thinking, "HOLY MOTHER. WHAT ELSE WENT DOWN!" My first thought was to find Violet, because she was nowhere in sight. I started whispering her name, so I wouldn't wake anyone else up, and walked into the kitchen. There she was...asleep, under the table...with a bag of doritos, the living room tv remote, and a can of pepsi (unopened, thank God). I decided that I was fine with this situation and ran back into the living room to check out the damage.
My small lamp that I keep in there wasn't on. This made me especially nervous because she hates that lamp. She's a lamp breaker from way back, like 4 months old, and I think she had been keeping her eye on this one. Sure enough. There it lay. Broken in two pieces...wiring pulled out, shade stepped on. I looked up at the tv, and noticed that that the screen had been drawn on (in magic marker this time...shew!) and had circles all over it (her favorite thing to draw). I kept hearing a whimpering and realized that I didn't know where the dog was. I followed the sound and found her stuck in the kitchen bathroom (she had been shut in by Violet) covered in my green mint julep mud mask, and toothpaste.
Bella looked sad, but she smelled BETTER THAN EVER. I really think Violet made an improvement there....
So, I cleaned up there area...picked Violet up from underneath the table, and went back to bed (shaking off lucky charms as I went). It was then that I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror. It seems as if I two had not escaped the marker circle attack and my face was covered in red magic marker circles and squiggly lines.
I washed up and crawled into bed, cursing myself for having fallen asleep on the job earlier and swearing that it will never happen again! Yeah....right.
So, if she naps she's up...and she's up until 1 or 2am...and she's tired...but can't get to sleep. This means, unlike most normal children, she speeds up. She just gets faster and faster, and MEANER. By midnight I'm usually ready to get the duct tape out and call Child protective services to turn myself in. It takes massive amounts of love and patience to not tape her to the wall.
The other night I was up late with her and fell asleep "on duty". Not acceptable. But I was so tired. I had a long day at the Writing Center that day in which I actually had to say, "I UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU MEAN! BUT YOU CAN'T WRITE IT THAT WAY!" to a student who insisted that she shouldn't change her paper...whatever, it's your paper lady. Anyway, I was beat. The big 3, or the triumverant of miscreants, as I call Maisy/Wyatt and James Henry, thought that the evening would be best spent fighting and tattling...and after a huge threat from me to tell Santa to NEVER COME TO THIS HOUSE AGAIN, they went to sleep.
Violet was in her chair, clutching her sippy cup, watching Gnomeo and Juliet looking as if she would soon pass out. I remember looking at her and then I remember waking up. The living room was exceptionally dark. "Hmm...I thought. Wasn't the lamp on when I fell asleep? How long have I been asleep?" I stood up and instantly shook off a box of Lucky Charms cereal. Violet had dumped an entire box on me, even got some down my shirt, while I was sleeping. That startled me, to say the least, and then I looked around alert and in terror thinking, "HOLY MOTHER. WHAT ELSE WENT DOWN!" My first thought was to find Violet, because she was nowhere in sight. I started whispering her name, so I wouldn't wake anyone else up, and walked into the kitchen. There she was...asleep, under the table...with a bag of doritos, the living room tv remote, and a can of pepsi (unopened, thank God). I decided that I was fine with this situation and ran back into the living room to check out the damage.
My small lamp that I keep in there wasn't on. This made me especially nervous because she hates that lamp. She's a lamp breaker from way back, like 4 months old, and I think she had been keeping her eye on this one. Sure enough. There it lay. Broken in two pieces...wiring pulled out, shade stepped on. I looked up at the tv, and noticed that that the screen had been drawn on (in magic marker this time...shew!) and had circles all over it (her favorite thing to draw). I kept hearing a whimpering and realized that I didn't know where the dog was. I followed the sound and found her stuck in the kitchen bathroom (she had been shut in by Violet) covered in my green mint julep mud mask, and toothpaste.
Bella looked sad, but she smelled BETTER THAN EVER. I really think Violet made an improvement there....
So, I cleaned up there area...picked Violet up from underneath the table, and went back to bed (shaking off lucky charms as I went). It was then that I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror. It seems as if I two had not escaped the marker circle attack and my face was covered in red magic marker circles and squiggly lines.
I washed up and crawled into bed, cursing myself for having fallen asleep on the job earlier and swearing that it will never happen again! Yeah....right.
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