Go to bed!

Why do children not value sleep? Why do they not realize that sleep is a gift. It's a positive, an asset, something not to be taken for granted? Seriously, children, go to sleep. You know you're tired. You've got dark circles under your eyes and you can't walk three steps without bumping into something! I just don't get it. Why do kids hate going to sleep so much? Some kids like bedtime. They like that routine of brushing their teeth, using the toilet, washing their hands and face, maybe brushing their hair, reading a few books, hearing a lullaby, saying their prayers. Whatever the routine, some kids really find comfort in it. Not mine, of course. My kids want to stay up indefinitely. They want to stay up until they pass out. My youngest had an entire year where she would be awake for about two hours anytime during 1 and 4 in the morning. Nothing was wrong. She would just wake up and be up. She didn't cry. She didn't need food or drink. She didn't need the bathroom. She just got up and hung out. That was fun (for her, I mean). Now, they push themselves. They don't care that it's a school night. They don't care that it's 9:30 or 10 pm and a lot of kids have been in bed since before 8. They want to stay up. There might be something good on TV. Or, they just want to be with me (yeah, right, sure I believe that one!) They just want to fight sleep. I am not complaining because I know in just a few years, I will be wondering why they sleep all the time. They'll hit their teen years and it will be near impossible to keep them awake! Maybe then I will remind them how hard it was to get them to go to sleep when they were younger. I'm sure they won't believe me or they won't really care and just smile and nod to get me to leave them alone (so they can go back to sleep). I can't fault them. I stay up way too late every night. I don't really know why. I guess it's my only time alone to do things I need to do - and I can only get it at night when they've gone to sleep. So the later they stay up, the longer it takes for me to wind down. Oh forget it, I'm going to take a nap.

Just a minute

Today my thoughts are inspired by one of my favorite moms - we were asking girls something that their moms say all the time. For this mama, her saying was "just a minute." Think about that. Think about how many times in a day you might say that to your child. She says it a lot and wondered aloud "how long is that minute exactly." Some days it's a few seconds. Some days, it's 5 or 10 minutes. You never know. It all depends on the circumstances, I guess. I know I say it a lot. Just a minute. Just a second. But it's never really "just" anything. It's probably just our nice way of saying "Wait!" We have to say it, because it seems like we are always so busy doing one thing when someone is asking us to do another thing. Wouldn't it be a funny experiment if moms all wore stopwatches and then every time we said "just a minute" the stopwatch would automatically click on and we could see how long it actually took for us to get to what we had to do. Lord knows, I would not want to have that stopwatch. I'd be late every time. Or we could just all change our common saying to one that matches that of our children - whenever they ask us to do something, we could just say "I'll do it later."

Where have I been?

Every time I blog, I look at the date of my last entry and gasp. Can it possibly be that long since I wrote something? I'm so bad about it. I love doing it, but it always falls to the last spot on my to-do list. So, here I am. Mother's Day has come and gone and I missed a wonderful opportunity to spout the eternal wisdom I have gained in all of my nine long years of being a mother. Hope you all had a great mother's day and that someone treated you special. Doesn't matter if it was breakfast in bed or an hour to yourself so you could read the paper - whatever it was I hope you enjoyed it thoroughly. Mine was nice and then uneventful as my children visited their grandmother and I went to the mall to use a $10 coupon that was set to expire. You wouldn't believe how many people were at the mall on Mother's Day. I guess that's how a lot of women want to spend their special day - leading their families around the mall on a shopping extravaganza. I guess it's pretty practical. you know what you want so you bring your peeps to the Galleria and point it out. Saves that whole awkward moment when you're trying to seem grateful for the cardigan with crocheted penguins. Happy Mother's Day,all. Hope you had a wonderful day!!!!1