Abberations

Yesterday our Internet service was so slow that I thought maybe I time-traveled during my three-hour night of sleep and woke up in 1992.  I tried to remember my old CompuServe password and kept expecting to hear that annoying old school “doinga-doinga-cscchchshch” sound that always made me think they kept the dialup servers deep on a Russian submarine.  So SLOW.  And then Dave got home and started watching YouTube videos on his laptop while I was still faster at looking up words in the Thesaurus BY HAND than I was plugging them in to thesaurus.com.  So I restarted my computer and rejoined the 21st Century, the thing I should've tried at 8 AM instead of 8 PM.  GO ME.

Early this week, the kids finally figured out that their bedrooms connect through a shared Jack & Jill bathroom.  We keep finding Genoa in Alex’s bed and Alex in Genoa’s bed. Doors are opening and closing.  Lights are turning and off and on.  Lying abounds.  ("But she came into my room FIRST!") Dave and I are taking the harsh stance that when we put them to bed, it's no longer play time and getting up is directly defiant, but another potentially larger part of us DOESN'T CARE.  You wanna sleep in your sister's bed?  As you long as you're quiet, I can't muster a crap to give.  I actually enjoy the idea of them being bedtime allies.  Maybe Genoa will stop pestering us multiple times a night and pester her brother instead.

We plan to sit them down tomorrow night and set some ground rules (#1 STFU and #2 Be Cool) and then let them have at it.  We're waiting until a Friday night just in case the whole thing blows up in our faces, so stay tuned.

Today Genoa spent a vast chunk of the morning carrying around two things:  1) a stretchy skeleton, the kind you throw on the wall and it slowly crawls down, hers is sticky and covered in dog hair, and 2) a AA battery, Costco brand.  She's napping right now and she told me before going to sleep that she was putting them up high on the dresser, "So no one will touch them."  Don't worry, sis, your precious treasure is safe, I'm sure.  A few hundred bucks worth of brand new toys are strewn all over the house and she covets a leftover goodie bag freebie and a dead battery.  At least you can't call her boring.

In unrelated news, I can't sleep.  I've always been the annoying type who zonks out the second my head hits the pillow and now I can't sleep to save my own life.  First, there's the getting up to write just. one. more. sentence, because if I don't, it'll inevitably be gone in the morning.  But what's worse is that my brain feels like a lit sparkler.  It's not one specific thing, but the thoughts are bouncing around in there, hitting the walls and zapping me awake each with each bounce.  I have an electrical problem.  Instead of an alarm clock, I want to keep a mini Nebuchadnezzar next to the bed so I can push the EMP button and knock myself out for the night.  It's gotten so bad that I'm actually sick of drinking coffee, which is to say, REALLY REALLY BAD. 

Comments

[Rhi]

I have MANY dead batteries, if she should lose that one :)

[David]

You see a rubber skeleton and a dead battery. I see the next McGyver with the ingredients for an automated farming implement.

[Elizabeth]

I kind of think the world would be a better place if we ALL followed Rule # 1 and Rule Number #2.

[Joceline]

I recommend a Calcium-Magnesium supplement for the non-sleeping. I take Natural Calm when I'm not pregnant and nursing and Mama Calm when I am. Ever since my midwife recommended it, I've never slept better and I can actually settle down at night! Buy it from www.vitacost.com for almost half price!

[Karen]

Something I do for the story continuing in my head all night is to have a pad and pen by the bed, If I write down that idea or the sentences then usually my mind will calm down at least for a little bit. I loved reading that you have taken to writing like that, I am working on a book now, not much to get finished. I read every author blog I find and writing articles I can for help. I've found them to be more helpful than writing books.

[Sue]

My kids do this and I don't care either. We put them in bed at 7, and they sneak around playing together, delighted to be putting one over on mom and dad. We can hear them giggling and running around, but I just ignore it until about 8 when we start in with "I MEAN IT, GET IN YOUR BED RIGHT NOW," and then they settle right down and go to sleep. I kind of love seeing them enjoy each other so much.

[rachel]

AH, writer's insomnia! I get that. The solution (for me - your mileage may vary) is to, in fact, stop drinking coffee. Or at least, stop drinking it after about 10am. It makes for a MISERABLE evening, but then I can't come up with any damn sentences at bedtime because my brain is like oatmeal. And I'm up at six, rarin' to go.