Musical Beds

Last night my 5 year old woke up at 1 am to use the bathroom. She always uses the master bathroom so I woke up to bright lights. “MOM,” she yells, “I need new panties.” For some reason, when she wakes up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom she asks me to get her fresh underwear. I don't understand why. There isn't pee in the original ones. She showers before bed and gets a fresh pair. I don't even argue it anymore. I get up half asleep and trek to her room and get her a new pair. She inspects them to make sure they're adequate. What a diva. When I am in her room, the rustling wakes up my oldest daughter who wakes up at the slightest noise. She gets up and walks into my room and climbs into my bed. My 5 year old follows. It's one of those nights where we play musical beds. I get into my 5 year old's bed and drift off to sleep. For 2 minutes.

I awaken to a pat on the back. “Mom, can I watch a movie?” My little one looks at me with big eyes. “No, it's in the middle of the night. Get back to bed.” “I can't. I am not sleepy. What can I do?” “You can lay in bed and count sheep or think about tomorrow.” She frowns, “That is boring. I want to watch a movie.” “NO – GO TO SLEEP.” She walks over to the door and says “Fine.” Then she turns on the light and slams the bedroom door. What a jerky thing to do. She wanted me to have to get out of bed to turn the light off. So I did and then fell back asleep.

I am awoken again by her poking me. “Mom, I am bored. Can I watch a movie?” I roll over, “What time is it?” She runs into my bedroom and then back to me. “3-4-1.” “Lay down and go to sleep.” She does what I says this time and does not turn the light on.

I drift off into glorious sleep until I hear screaming. It's my husband this time. “JOZZ. WAKE UP! IT'S 6:30!!!!” Great. I set the alarm for 5:15 because it takes a gazillion years to get ready in the morning. My husband must have pressed the snooze button 80 times. We have to leave the house at 7 am. I have ½ hour to dress myself, 2 kids, feed everyone, fix snacks and pack book bags. Hubby and I go into panic mode. He goes downstairs to get breakfast and snacks ready while I get us all dressed.

The kids picked out their clothes the night before, so I tell them to get dressed while I get myself together. The 5 year old refuses to get up because she was up bugging us half the night. In desperation, I pull off her pajamas and get her dressed while she is sleeping. She was like a limp noodle. It was a lot of work. Then I go in to check on my oldest and she is literally laying in the middle of the floor flapping her arms back and forth like she is making a snow angel, like there is all the time in the world. "Please get dressed." She looks up at me and nonchalantly says, "I'm going to." WTF? "When? We have to leave in 10 minutes. Get up NOW." We finally sat down at the breakfast table with 2 minutes to spare. I made them bring the rest of their breakfast with them to finish in the car so now my back seat is literally covered in cornflakes. It was totally worth it though because I made it to work on time. It was close call.