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Pony: Sleep is important, no matter how badly you want to play
8.7.2009
Sometimes I want to ignore the freaking schedule. On the first nice weekend, practically, this summer, sitting on the grass in the park with my friends and eating ice cream, watching the tennis game. It's easy to ignore the escalating hyperactivity of a child who needed to be napping an hour ago and who only had cheese and crackers in snacksize portiion for lunch.
Sometimes, I am not such a model parent. I wanted his nap to end early so that we could go to the Island on our bikes. I put him to bed late so that we could sit on a patio at a restaurant across town. I let him eat chocolate ice cream for dinner on Sunday. I am tired of being cooped up at home on long summer days while he gets the sleep he needs. I wanted to do things MY way for once. And boy did we pay for it.
The fragile toddler balance took a week to restore, and G had a hairtrigger temper for days, 5:45 wakeups, and such intense moodswings that eclipsed the worst case of PMS "No, don't put the socks on the bed! (cue hysterical cry).
Then, yesterday morning, at the crack of dawn, he woke up and we went downstairs, got some milk, and stretched out on the sofa. This is how it goes. He drinks milk. He gets cold. He snuggles into me and we cuddle for about 20 minutes. No matter how tired you are, it is heaven. He looked into my eyes and I said "I'm tired, Gabriel."
He sat up, put his hand on my forehead, and said: "Lie down, mommy. You need to get some rest. Go to sleep. Close your eyes." Then he patted my tummy rhythmically until i seemed to doze. Then he reached over and got his wooden bird abacus "bird fence" and played with it quietly as I snoozed. Because sleep is important, no matter how badly we want to play.
