Interesting Sandman

It's been a very busy weekend. Friday night, Don and I attended our church Christmas Party, which started at 6:30. I made a nice meal for the children and babysitter, put my appetizers in a box, and off we took. We had a wonderful time, but it was a late night.

Saturday we bought our tree (right after the two older children's basketball games) and rushed home to welcome the company we had invited over to help us decorate our tree. This is our family tradition and one we love. The last guests left at 9:30 when Don put his foot down and sent the children off to bed.

Of course, everyone was up early again this morning. Why is it that children won't sleep in when they're tired. Daelyn got up, dressed for church, then began yelling at everyone and crying about nothing. He was just so tired, he couldn't see straight. Normally, I would have put him immediately to bed, but the children had a dress rehearsal at 1:00 for the Church Christmas Pageant and it was a required practice. Don and I had a hurried conference. He laid down with Daelyn and read him a book. Then Daelyn very clearly explained that he would not sleep unless Mommy laid down with him. I had a meeting at the church during the same timeframe as the dress rehearsal, so I sent Don off to church with the two older children. I was going to get Daelyn down for a quick nap, then take him for the rehearsal when I went to attend my meeting.

I wasn't sure if I could get him asleep quick enough for him to get any real rest. We had just 70 minutes before he needed to be up, get his shoes on, and be out the door. I explained how important it was that he fall asleep quickly, then finished the story Don had been reading to him, and snuggled up next to him. It took him about 7 minutes total to fall asleep, and the first 4 he spent fidgeting.

Once his breathing was deep and even, I snuck out of the room, made out the grocery list, and did a few other chores. I was just preparing to switch laundry loads when Daelyn appeared.

"Mommy, I feel much better now. Can I get up?" He had only slept about 40 minutes, but he DID look much more rested and had a better attitude.

"Sure, honey. You took a really good nap. You know, you were sleeping really deeply."

"That's because I was having a really interesting dream."

So that's the key to getting him to sleep, is it? Put ideas for interesting dreams into his head. I'll have to remember that next time I desperately need a nap and he won't settle down.