For the Sake of the Call

I couldn't sleep at all last night (do do do do do)

It's not unusual for at least one of my four lovely children to crawl into bed with me at some point every night. Mommy, I'm cold. Mommy, I had a bad dream. Mommy, I'm wet.... Usually, it's one of the younger two, but if they miraculously sleep through the night, one of the older two is sure to get paged to take their place in mommy's nice warm bed. I'm convinced they have a system. I can picture the clandestine meetings, 4dd5 says to 2dd8 "I'm really tired! I need a good night of uninterupted sleep; it's your turn to wake mommy up in the middle of the night!"

Most nights, I am only awaken once, but last night was an unusual exception. Sometime between 12:30am (when I fell asleep) and 1:30am, 3dd6 climbed into bed with me. I was so tired, that I didn't notice her presence for a little while. Then she probably kicked me or smacked me in the face, because I woke up and could no longer sleep while she remained with me. So I carried her lanky body back into her own bed, tucked her in, kissed her sweetly, and collapsed into the warmth of my own bed once again. It didn't last long. She's fighting a cold, and her inability to breathe easily woke her again, and I found her mostly asleep; crying in the bathroom, around 3am. She thought she was going to throw up so I got her a basin, I gave her a drink of water (knowing she needed some hot tea, but far too tired to make some), took her back to her bed, tucked her in, prayed over her, and comforted her. (Fortunately, the basin was unnecessary, and she made it through the night with no vomitting!) Meanwhile, her roomate (4dd5), awoke and claimed to be thirsty, so I got another drink of water for her, tucked her in again, kissed her again, and returned to my not so warm and cozy bed. I dozed a bit, but not much later, I was awoken again to the sound of talking and giggling, intermingled with coughing. I was so tired that I tried to ignore it and dozed off and on for about an hour. At 5am, I finally got up to investigate. I discovered that 4dd5 had gone down the hall and climbed into bed with 2dd8 (right next door to my bedroom). All I can think of at this point is how tired I am, and how grumpy they'll be come afternoon. None too graciously, I order the younger to her own bed, where I gruffly tuck her in, and she loudly complains of the cold, and I insist through clenched teeth and with words like my grandfather would have spoken, that she better not cry and wake up her sick sister. I return to my own bed where I struggle with insomnia, only to fall asleep about the time I hear dh get up. Soon after I'm joined by 3dd6 again, but I don't mind, because she can sleep on dh's side of the bed.

All is well until I am rudely awakened by the sound of thumping under my bed. It doesn't take me long to discover that the puppy (who isn't supposed to venture upstairs) is chasing the kitten around under the bed. So I start shouting, "Lainey out!" and beating the sides of the bed. 1ds10, who is supposed to be watching the puppy, hears the commotion and runs upstairs, to discover that the puppy and kitten are actually INSIDE the boxspring, chasing eachother. We get the kitten out within minutes, but no amount of yelling, threatening, or beating the sides of the boxspring will cajole the puppy to obedience. We finally just wait until she comes close enough so I can grab her (none to lovingly), and pull her out. I look at the clock and it's almost 8:30am. It's past time to be up, my heart is pounding, my temper is raging, adrenaline is surging through my veins, but I'm still exhausted!

So what would you do in such a situation?

Get up, take a shower, and begin the day
Crawl back in bed and attempt to go back to sleep
Skip the shower, remain in your pjs, and go make a cup of coffee
Pull out your Bible and prayer journal
Get up and blog about it

What do you think I did?

I have a habit of posting my own blogs in my fellow blogger's comments. Personally, I love lengthy comments, but then I see so many people apologizing for leaving such a lengthy comment, and I wonder if other people mind my own lengthy comments. Plus, my habit of leaving long comments in response to other people's posts often leaves me with little time to write a post of my own. So today as a comment of mine was growing and growing, I decided to make it a post of my own and link to it in the comments. :)

ConservaChick wants to know: What do you do about downtime? You know, that time after the school and "kid" chores are done, and before the afternoon activities start (between 11:30 and 3:30)....what do you do to keep your kids constructively busy. Whether it be during your homeschool day, or the summer months.

Well, we're never done by 11:30am! But that's not what you asked...;)

First of all, I read aloud to them for at least an hour a day. We have history reading, missionary story reading, and fun reading. While I'm reading, they sometimes play with quiet toys (legos), but only if they don't become a distraction. Presently, we're reading The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald, George Washington: Man of Prayer and Courage (Sower Series), and we just finished the Lamplighter book Little Sir Galahad. We'll probably start one of the Trailblazer books next. We also have a stack of picture books from the library that I read to my pre-readers. Everyone else has their own books to read, so that's always an option. Read!

Beyond that, they play. They

play house
have tea parties (with accents)
put on shows
take shoe boxes and design and build massive doll house structures with them,
dress up and talk to eachother with British accents and scold their children,
listen to CDs and make up their own dance routines,
play with dolls, Barbies, horses, doll house, Strawberry Shortcake, My Little Pony, and Only Hearts Club dolls
build with K'Nex, Lincoln Logs, and legos
build massive train tracks and play with trains
rearrange the couch pillows into separate "rooms" and play housekeeper & master (again with the accents)
carry the kitten around and play with him
play games
play the piano
work on the computer with Mavis Beacon teaches typing
and...

and whenever they can, they go outside and play. They

ride bikes,
ride scooters,
pretend to go camping,
dress up and play Little House on the Prairie,
play with dollhouses,
play tag,
play soccer,
give the Barbies baths,
run around with the puppy,
jump on the trampoline,
and...

I'm not very creative myself, and I don't initiate any of this. I really don't play with them myself either. The only thing I do is say, "No, you don't need to watch TV or play on the computer. Go play!" They figure it out. They've had years of figuring it out, and they also have inspiration from the books I've read to them, or they've read themselves. If they don't want to play, they can read, or color, or make up their own crafts, or write letters to friends. We also have lots of board games. Lots! But that's another post in and of itself.

We've been completely off any type of a schedule for months, so this play usually happens in the morning, and then we get started with school and work through the afternoon. It's not ideal, but it works out okay in the winter because it's so cold, but we need to get back on track and start lessons earlier because they'll want to be outside more in the afternoons in the spring. They're not too happy about doing Math when the school kids get home from school!

Just like any kids, my kids can get sucked into the TV very easily, so we don't turn it on. If we do, they whine and complain when I turn it off, but if I don't, they might ask to watch something, but rarely pitch a fit when I say, no. There was a span of time when I was pregnant/nursing, and they were younger, that I depended on the tv as a babysitter. We watched a lot of TV for a few years: Playhouse Disney, Dora, Blues' Clues, Veggie Tales. No longer! Now, they might watch it once a week, usually on weekends or during our home fellowship group. I've even recorded great shows like Drive Through History, on the DVR, and we haven't watched them, because we rarely turn the television on during the day anymore. There are plenty of other things to do. Also, we don't have Nintendo, or Playstation, or anything. We have friends who have it ALL, and when we're at their house, my son (and sometimes my husband) like to play. I'm content with that! :)

As a result, my kids are creative and rarely get bored. I'm sure if they did, I'd find something to do with them (like wipe down all the kitchen cabinets, or clean the baseboards). :)