Every night I check on Autumn before I go to bed. I lean over, brush the hair from her forehead and give her a kiss. Most nights I also remove the books, ones she has pulled from her shelf to page through in the semi-darkness after I shut the door to her room. Sometimes there are so many books that there’s barely any room for her. I shake my head and put them back as the pride I feel at my daughter’s love for the books conflicts with the knowledge that she’s doing herself and her eyesight a disservice by staying up well past her bedtime, straining to see whatever volume she has in her lap.
While Autumn still does get the opportunity to nap at the new school, she doesn’t always take advantage of it and some days I’m presented with a log of her day that indicates she did not nap at all. No naps coupled with the book habit at night has resulted in one cranky-ass kid and we had a very hellish day this past week. Autumn was so exhausted she was not able to cope with even the most minor crisis and her emotional instability just drained the will to live right from us.
Thursday night was the night I took the books away. I hated doing it and the act resulted in screams of objection, but she had gone for days on less than 10 hours of sleep which, as you may or may not know, is NOT enough sleep for a three year-old. I felt like some Orwellian villain as I pulled book after book from her shelf, placed them in a basket and hauled them into my bedroom. Even though I assured Autumn this wasn’t a punishment, she was devastated and buried her head in the pillow. But shortly thereafter she did fall asleep.
Yesterday she did not nap and was instead treated to a Disney movie during rest time. She fell asleep on the drive back home and did not wake up until 7:00 this morning. I was able to pull her from the car and transfer her to Nathan, who then put her right into bed. She slept through dinner and through Nathan screaming at the TV and the Red Wings’ pathetic performance last night. She woke up very hungry, but man, last night was one of the most peaceful nights we’ve had in a long, long time.
And today, after spending nearly the entire day wrangling, chastising, cajoling and soothing my child all by myself, I am more than ready to be the one to sleep fourteen hours straight.
{ 1 comment }
In my experience all children go through the not wanting to sleep stage occasionally, luckily it rarely lasts long before they get back on schedule. Although taking the books is the best thing to do at night, so that she knows bedtime is bedtime.
.-= Leigh´s last blog ..Wordless Wednesday =-.
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