“When We Were Little” Wednesday

When I was little, I loved sleep. As I remember it, I never fought going to sleep and never fought about taking a nap. I may have posted this before, but when I was really little and it would get dark, I would say, “Gark outside. Know what ‘dat means. Time for nigh-night.” I knew what bedtime was and I didn’t have a problem with it.

I think much of my preoccupation with sleep comes from two things: 1)an awareness that I need a little more sleep than the average person, and 2)an awareness that I feel awful – just awful – if I don’t get my sleep quota. There are few feelings as bad to me as struggling to stay awake through work or class or whatever my day contains. That, to me, is miserable, and if going to bed early means I can avoid that, I’m okay with that.

Now, as we’re doing the sleep training with Leah, I’m dealing with some of these issues. For one thing, when I’m sitting up in the middle of the night waiting for her to fall asleep, I can’t let myself think about how little sleep I’m getting or how tired I’m going to be the next day. For another thing, I can’t let myself worry about how tired Leah is going to be. That stresses me out about the whole thing, and I really think she senses that and my stress keeps her awake. This is teaching me to take things one day – and one step – at a time, and is making me rethink some ideas about sleep that I’ve carried for years.

This picture is random, but it’s seriously cute.