Who needs sleep?

Either I am coincidentally awake to hear house noises, kids sleepwalking, etc., or I am such a light sleeper that these noises awaken me. Either way, I don't guess why I'm ready for bed most nights by 9 PM. I just don't sleep well. Couple that with the frequent nights of Jeffrey tiptoeing his way downstairs to our bed, feeling too hot from excess covers or too cold from not enough. I don't think I have slept well any given night in the last 10 or so years, since having kids and rising up to the demands of their late night feedings, comforting nightmares, and everything else they do that forces us out of bed late at night.

My clock reads 2:58 AM when I hear Tommy talking. I hear nobody else, and having heard similar chatter in the past, I assume he is dreaming and talking simultaneously. God knows Jeffrey does it practically every night, only with more vigor and whining in his voice. I flip my pillow to the cool side and settle back to sleep.

Voices talking again. Less than a half-hour has passed. This time, I hear a response that prompts me to get up and check it out. I walk into the living room and there, one on each sofa, are two of my boys, watching television. Did I mention they are dressed and ready for school? "What are you doing?" I ask them. Honestly, I can't even believe they are awake. "We're watching TV," Tommy answers. As if it's the most normal thing to do at 3 in the morning and why am I even asking?

"Do you know what time it is?"

"Yeah. We got up at 1. We can't go back to sleep." As if.

I make a half-hearted attempt to persuade them to go to bed, but really, I don't care. If they want to stay up to watch TV, I am not going to argue with them in the middle of the night. It will be their last day of school before Christmas vacation, and there will be minimal academic work to get done since their teachers have parties and otherwise easy days planned for them. Besides, I know they will fall asleep again before having to get up to get ready for school for real. I leave them there and go back to my warm bed.

It's 6:00 AM when I hear Jeffrey whining. Of all nights, why can't he just follow routine and come into our bed effortlessly? Again, I get up. As I suspected, Christopher is fast asleep on a sofa, while Tommy, not to my surprise, is not. Jeffrey is sitting halfway up the stairs. "What's the matter, Jeffrey?"

"Mom, why did you forget to cover me?" he asks. Because of course, I didn't do that when I put him to bed 8 hours earlier. I never tuck my kids into bed just so they can wake up shivering from the cold to reprimand me for not doing so.

I expect him to request to come back to bed with me, but he turns and heads back upstairs. He crawls into bed and I cover him. G is laughing when I get back into bed but the joke is on him because while we get to go back to sleep, he has to get up to get ready for work.

After school today, we have some errands to run. Christopher and Joey both opt to stay in the van while Jeffrey and I run into the Derry News to make a donation to their annual Santa Fund. This year, it is made in the memories of Papa Ralph and Uncle Brian.

They inquire who the people are when we stop to drop off a check at the Sonshine Soup Kitchen. I have finished explaining that they are there waiting for a free meal by the time we get to the bank. Before we stop to pick up pizza for dinner, Christopher and Joey are asleep.

By the time we get home, just after 4:30 PM, guess who is asleep on the sofa? It's almost 8 PM and the noise of his brothers force him to get up and go to bed, where he has been making up the hours of sleep he lost early this morning.

Guess who wishes she was in her bed? Because, really, who needs sleep?