Every Waking Hour

Aidan woke us up at some dreadful hour last night…. I did not check the clock, but it was dead dark. He thought it was time to get up, and earnestly pursued the goal of rousing the parents of the household, at least. Kevin went to sleep on the couch. I heard him leave, and imagined he was downstairs chasing bears outside, or dealing with a sick kid (Sean and Brendan have been dealing with GI issues recently, so I was picturing the worst OF COURSE). So I went looking for him, and couldn’t find him. Then Aidan found him trying to sleep on the sofa. It went on from there. I finally made Aidan stay in his bed in the loft and lay down beside him to keep him there so Kevin could get some sleep. You see, I can nap during the day, but Kevin is unable to sleep unless it’s night time. Still, it wasn’t exactly great sleep, and Aidan made sure to wake me up for good once it was light outside. I am remembering melatonin and special needs — but his sleeping pattern has never been a problem before.

I made pancakes and sausages for dinner and simmered the black beans I had set to soak yesterday evening, with jalapenos and garlic and diced canned tomatoes. Everyone did their weekly chores.

Clare made some special vanilla tea that I got her for her birthday. We went to the library and I got Sway and Clare got Brideshead Revisited (the book) and Monk (the TV series on DVD) from our request pile. The kids spent some time this afternoon watching Monk, and I took that nap. Cooking beans means that Aidan is guaranteed to say 100 times (not even exaggerating): ARe they ready? It’s time to turn off those things you are making, Mom. I think they’re done! He kept saying this during my nap, so no primetime sleep there either.

Sean had football practice, so he and Kevin were gone for most of the afternoon.

I was going to make fajitas for dinner to go with the black beans, but the beef was still too frozen, so I made a chicken stir-fry instead; and Aidan got his long-awaited beans, at last. Clare made a chocolate cake for her saint’s day which is today, and so that was dessert.

Kevin showed everyone who had not stayed up late yesterday, the swimming relay from last night’s Olympics.

After dinner I played a game with Paddy that we have been playing recently. He takes my Palm Treo and I take the Bluetooth Keyboard, and we do this imaginary dialogue/pretend game and type in what we say. I actually do all the typing, but he likes seeing the words come up on the screen. I am a reformed giant spider, sort of like Shelob but who has changed for the better. He is a Hero. We have two baby lions that travel with us, and 2 baby spiders (mine) who are still nursing ;-). We go on various adventures; his favorite is going to “dreamland” where the villains are from our nightmares.

This is quite mentally challenging for me. I realize what Chesterton says about the youthful energy — how the child says “do it again” and the adult does it, “until he is nearly dead.” I also realize the hidden laziness of academic structure — it’s a hidden truth of structure that it is plain EASIER for the adult than the diverse, imaginative, exploratory world of the small child. I would have much preferred a nice structured reading lesson as far as my energy level and creativity went; on the other hand, I LEARNED more and connected more with my precious youngest by engaging in his game with him. And all things considered, he was learning just as much about reading, if not MORE, than if we were sitting down with a phonics manual. He was looking at the typing and asking me to read to him, and sometimes reading bits himself. Still, I got TIRED. Since my youngers have an older mom, it’s a good thing they also have siblings to fill in the energy and creativity gaps.

Now Aidan is asleep, and Paddy says he is hungry.

Paddy and Aidan going boating, a couple of weeks ago on our vacation by the lake.