Counting sheep

Staci is out at bunco tonight, so it's Daddy's night with the kids. While things usually go pretty smoothly, it's always interesting trying to get 3 kids into bed at the same time. Owen and Grant are asleep now, while Cassidy is... well... I'll get to that in a minute.

Owen (4) is now the easiest - a book, "medicine and water" (his vitamin), and prayers equal an instant snooze attack. Owen is all business when it comes to sleep - if his head is on the pillow, it's usually just minutes before he's out cold to the world.

Grant (7) is, and always has been, a good sleeper. Getting him to sleep is an entirely different story. When he was 2 and his world started to change, one of the most obvious symptoms (now) was bedtime. What used to be "normal" became a marathon; minutes turned into hours as he just couldn't lay down and get settled. Looking back now, he was probably scared and unsure of how to calm his body down or how to be comfortable doing it. Over the past 5 years, we've gone through so many different stages of "putting Grant to sleep" I can hardly remember them all. But these days, he loves to write on his magna doodle, he is (at long last) interesting at looking at books, and he usually wants me to sit next to his bed while he dozes off. Although I can only guess what he's thinking, it seems to be a bit of "local coherence"; a grasping of something tangible while he heads into the unknown of sleepdom.

Cassidy (11) has always been my talker. Until she could talk, she wanted me to talk or sing to her. As the years have flown by, bedtime is "our time". She will talk about things at bed time that she never would during the day, partly to stay up later, but mostly because it's a soothing, safe time to talk. No interruptions, just the day's fears, troubles, and dreams. We also have read many, many books together over the years. I think the most challenging and the one which prompted the most conversation was She Said Yes: The Unlikely Martyrdom of Cassie Bernall. It's a remarkable book for many reasons and I'd highly recommend reading it with your pre-teen or teenager.

So what is Cassidy doing tonight? Well, another of our traditions is coming up with "what to do when you can't sleep" ideas. In 1st grade, it was "think of all the kids you know" or "think of every person's name you've ever met". Later, it became "think of every book you've ever read". Tonight, well, let me go upstairs and see if she's still going strong.. be right back...
Ok, she's asleep. Tonight, it was "Recite the entire Finding Nemo movie" - I wonder how far she got tonight? If she does it during the day, she can recite the entire movie from start to finish - it's amazing! I can barely remember my own name half of the time and here she is delivering 90 minutes of dialog w/o a sweat.

Ah, all 3 kids sound asleep. No sound in the house except for my fingers on the keyboard. I love my family more than anything, but these few minutes of silence are heaven.