After therapy last week, I decided it was in my whole family's best interest to cut Tiny Boy's nap entirely. While the verdict is still out on what it does to his night sleep (and therefore mine)*, it is unquestionably better for my nights. It is also better for having time for LG. And making bedtime less of a stressful event all around.
See, it's pretty hard to go from 7 am to 10:30 pm without a real break or leisure to speak of. And I was going from kid drop off to work to kid pick up to making dinner and chasing children and several hours of bedtime and being generally resentful that my son was going to bed AFTER I wanted to go to bed, and I wasn't reading anymore and if I watched TV it was in like 15 minute stretches with the sound off in the complete dark. And I know that once school starts--all too soon--I'll actually need to work at night and my own sleep sucks enough that I will not stay up later or get up earlier. That was all fine and good during grad school but not as a real adult, and tenured person, with children.
So right now, I'm risking insomnia for the guarantee of having my nights back. Which, in practical terms, means (a) I spend time with my daughter, (b) I can clean up the kitchen a bit, (c) I can actually bathe when kids are in the house, and (d) I have actual leisure time in increments larger than 15 minutes, which, contra to Laura Vanderkam yet again, actually matters to me. While I'm all for making the most of those spare change minutes, it's just not the same thing as having an hour of quiet after the kids go to bed.
I'll keep you posted, but the past three nights have been pretty darn good.
* he seems to go for more total hours (closer to 12, instead of 9-10) but with an additional waking/mommy calling, which sort of sucks in that it sets me up for the potential to be awake ALL FUCKING NIGHT
See, it's pretty hard to go from 7 am to 10:30 pm without a real break or leisure to speak of. And I was going from kid drop off to work to kid pick up to making dinner and chasing children and several hours of bedtime and being generally resentful that my son was going to bed AFTER I wanted to go to bed, and I wasn't reading anymore and if I watched TV it was in like 15 minute stretches with the sound off in the complete dark. And I know that once school starts--all too soon--I'll actually need to work at night and my own sleep sucks enough that I will not stay up later or get up earlier. That was all fine and good during grad school but not as a real adult, and tenured person, with children.
So right now, I'm risking insomnia for the guarantee of having my nights back. Which, in practical terms, means (a) I spend time with my daughter, (b) I can clean up the kitchen a bit, (c) I can actually bathe when kids are in the house, and (d) I have actual leisure time in increments larger than 15 minutes, which, contra to Laura Vanderkam yet again, actually matters to me. While I'm all for making the most of those spare change minutes, it's just not the same thing as having an hour of quiet after the kids go to bed.
I'll keep you posted, but the past three nights have been pretty darn good.
* he seems to go for more total hours (closer to 12, instead of 9-10) but with an additional waking/mommy calling, which sort of sucks in that it sets me up for the potential to be awake ALL FUCKING NIGHT
No comments:
Post a Comment