He Was Almost Too Sleepy To Think Anymore

Definitely my current favorite line from a children's book; every time we hit that page in Guess How Much I Love You, which Little Bear would listen to ten times before bed every night if we'd let him, I have to smile and nod because it's just so very accurate an image. You can tell so clearly when little kids hit that point, and more so recently, I can tell when I'm getting there. I've been having a world of trouble falling asleep and staying asleep again; my brain just won't shut down at night, and I keep discovering that I'm awake at all hours. Little Bear is actually sleeping well these days, darn it; why can't I?

If it wasn't bright and sunny all day long, I don't know how I'd be making it without napping. Fortunately, the skies have been clear and blue, and with the curtains open there is enough light coming in during the middle of the day that I can turn all of the lights off! I love when we reach that point in the year; goodbye horrendous midwinter electric bills! Not entirely, because we probably still have a few months of plugging the car in at night, but keeping it on a timer so that we are only feeding electricity to the engine heaters for a few hours helps. 

Being constantly tired, I haven't been a very fun mom lately... All Little Bear wants is to sit on my lap on the floor and read story after story for hours, and he's just crushed when I finally lose patience with reading the same story five times in a row and plop him on the floor so I can go do something more fun, like folding laundry. I shouldn't complain--I wanted a reader, and I sure got one--but really? Shouldn't he want to play with toys at least part of the time? It's hard to get anything done when he's always grabbing my hand and crying for "One, one, one," more story.

At least going outside is a popular way to take a break from books: Yesterday I taught him about climbing the "mountains" out by the end of the driveway. The graders went through a couple days before our freezing rain last week, so the hills of already-hard snow are immovable. After helping him scramble to the top, I got him started scooting over the crest of the hill, then ran down to the bottom to catch him as he slid down. What a grin! I wish I'd had a camera.

It's not that he never wants anything other than stories, I just realized; that's just the only thing he wants to do with me. The minute Matt gets home from work, Little Bear forgets all about books and is ready to run around laughing and shrieking, tickling his Daddy and growling like a bear and wrestling all over the living room. I guess it's pretty clear which parent is more fun to play with! Maybe if I can get more sleep at night, I'll be able to come up with things to play during the day that'll be acceptable breaks from listening to stories.