Go To Sleep!!!

Go To Sleep!

By Allan Olson

It’s a struggle that virtually every parent goes through: getting their child to go to sleep when they want them to.

The struggle lasts from the time they’re born (at least for dads), sitting up at some awful hour of the morning when you have to go to work and/or school the next morning and the little one is fussing (or just plain old wide awake). The parent is trying to get the child to sleep and in need of toothpicks just to keep their own eyes open while attending to the sleepless child’s (or in our case, children’s) needs.

I remember the halcyon days of yore when the youngest one was born – nearly four years ago. It seemed like we had just gotten past midnight feedings or changings (oh wait, we had), and middle-of-the-night crying sessions (or was that us, due to the lack of sleep?).

It seemed like those days would never end, but just as it did with the other three children, this stage also, thankfully, ended with Number Four.

Still, the battle to get them into bed and off to sleep goes on.

Nikolai, being the oldest, gets the privilege of staying up the latest, but he can usually fall asleep at the drop of a hat, as the old saying goes. I remember his first week of school. Only a day or two into it, the bus failed to drop him off. It was full-on panic mode here – where was our child? We found out he had fallen asleep, and the driver didn’t seem to notice until after he had left our stop. He returned with his extra passenger at the end of the route. Fast forward to third grade, and he still dozes off easily – usually on the way to school, when I drop him off. When bed time hits, as long as dad or mom cover him up at least once, he’s usually good to go. Not that he doesn’t have his own delay tactics, too – the younger ones need to learn from someone.

If Nikolai is the easiest to get to sleep, Abigail is the direct opposite. She is a bundle of energy from the minute she wakes up until her little body finally crashes into a deep slumber. Need to take a road trip and want someone to stay awake while you drive? Take Abigail – 99 percent of the time she will work effortlessly at keeping you entertained or annoyed with her incessant chatter. Yet she, too, has surprised me a time or two by falling asleep either on the way to or from school.

It seems like nearly every night we battle with her and Alivia to get them to sleep. They have more excuses than any politician. As the saga continues, I’m sure it won’t get any easier. I’m only eight years from having my first teenage daughter in the house – now that’s a scary thought.

Marcus is similar to his older brother. While they are both subject to occasional bouts of insomnia, they aren’t usually in their bedroom sneaking out of bed to play with toys. He likes to lie in bed with a handful or more of books and look at them quietly. Of course, he has his own set of delay tactics. In addition to “I’m thirsty,” his latest favorite is “My belly hurts.” At first we took him a little seriously; now we’ve come to realize that his belly only seems to hurt when it’s time for bed – must be a phantom pain that only occurs at that time. Of course, he denied it when I pointed out to him that strange coincidence.

Then we have Miss Alivia, as we call her. That young lady is full of attitude (like her namesake). When it’s bed time for her, she has a full routine of things that have to be checked off her list before she will attempt to sleep. That includes a kiss, a hug and a high-five. Why the high-five? We have no idea; it was something she came up with on her own, and the twins will sometimes add that to their list of bedtime rituals, too. In addition to those things, she also must be covered up with sometimes up to four blankets, depending on how many she has on her bed at the time.

Of course, without their antics (no matter how annoying), our life would be that much more boring.

The last weekend flew by with little excitement, as we all basically lounged around all weekend long. It felt great.

This weekend, I’m heading out for the opening weekend of deer camp. I will be enjoying the thrill of the hunt, or the thrill of freezing my butt off for nothing, but regardless of how it plays out, its hunting season, and I plan on enjoying it.

Thanks for reading, and remember to watch out for those school buses. As always, feel free to drop us a line and/or a hunting/fishing photo, and have a great week. For more of my columns visit: http://allan-crazykids.blogspot.com