Of course, that's just my opinion, I could be wrong

Is sleep optional?

In my house, the answer is apparently a resounding YES. As I've stated many times in countless blog posts, my child is a lousy sleeper. I shouldn't really be surprised by this since I (nor G for that matter) don't need a lot of sleep myself. I had some insomnia issues when I was growing up, didn't require a lot of sleep but my parents do claim that once I went to sleep, I did actually stay asleep until morning. Not my kid. C has been difficult to get to sleep pretty much from the moment she was born. Most kids, so we were told, are so tired by the birthing process that they pretty much fall asleep. We should've known we were in trouble when she was up for the first few hours of her life. It's pretty much continued along the same course for almost 4 years now.

I will admit that we've enabled some it (apply pancake baby theory here) by cuddling with her when we put her to bed. I'm better at getting up after the stories ("Honey, I have to go potty." is a common "I'm leaving" line) then G is but she definitely still feels the need to cuddle. G usually falls asleep and I go in to wake him up and get him out of there. I get frustrated watching the clock because there's usually something that I need to do and get tired of waiting for her to fall asleep, thus the above mentioned attempts to excuse myself. That being said, C didn't fall asleep until after 11PM last night! Yes, you read that right. We were all ready to pull our hair out. She had a full day at school, afternoon playing with the babysitter (I'm working this week) and then dinner. No nap and she was still wired. Finally, I told her when you see the 11 on the clock, I've got to go downstairs (I was there for about 30 minutes trying to get her to calm down) and I left. She wasn't happy but funny, she fell asleep. This is another on the growing list of things "When you turn 4" that we're going to implement. After reading stories and kisses and hugs goodnight, we're leaving the room. Four year old girls can fall asleep on their own. Enough already.

Yes, I know we're long overdue. We do well for awhile and then we have setbacks. I'm done. I'm tired. And because she doesn't go to sleep until late, I don't get my shit done and then you wonder why I don't turn out my light until 2AM. Of course, my insomnia last night didn't help either. When work is crazy and I'm working stupid hours (the Oscars pre-show comes to mind) then yes, sleep is an option. The rest of the time, it shouldn't be that hard.

Go to sleep kid! Or maybe I'll start putting a little Kahlua in her chocolate milk...

In other news, I'm filling in on "Dr. Phil" this week. Just doing to editing of some shows. It's a very slow week so I'm spending a lot of time on the computer. Next week is the "Miss USA Pageant". Hey, it's paycheck. Need me a few of those.

I made arrangements to go see "Wicked" again when Caz is in town in a few weeks. She's seen it too but hey, you can never see it too many times, right? How special is this show that you can't get enough? I can't wait to see her. It's been about a year. Thank goodness for her job at Mannatech because she organizes the annual trip for the Aussies to the National Convention in Dallas so they pay for her travel here. Good because I haven't exactly had the time or the money to get back to Sydney. We're hoping to go away for a few days to see the Grand Canyon. I've never been myself so if I'd get off my lazy butt and plan it, we might actually go.

I think I'll go do some research on that now. Have a great day!

Labels: Australia, chocolate milk, Dr. Phil, Miss USA Pageant, Sleep, Wicked

posted by Juls @ 12:18 PM