Do you have a child who sleeps when other people are
around? A child who can pass out from
sheer exhaustion? Does your child interrupt your party to say, it’s time for
him/her to go to bed? Is your child most
likely to have her bra frozen at a sleepover?
If you answered yes to any of these questions, you don’t know
Duckie! (In my “You don’t know AARP”
voice)
There is not one time I can look back on when she fell
asleep while the party was still going.
Even when she was an infant, I’d see other babies just conk out on their
parent’s shoulder or lap. I’ve no idea
what that feels like.
Duckie slept in a moving stroller outdoors on lengthy
excursions and in her room with the lights off.
That’s all it’s ever been. If you
want your kid to sleep, don’t invite Duckie for a sleep over. If you want your kid to wind down, leave the
party that Duckie is attending. We once
gave her Benadryl on a 13 hour flight. Little
known fact: For a small percentage of
the population Benadryl is an upper.
Guess who is part of the teeny, tiny percentage?
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| She was asleep. No one was around |
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| In the Caribbean after being left alone she finally gave in to a mid day nap |
Six years in, I’ve accepted her for the party gal that she
is and likely will always be. To her, if
there are people around, it’s the equivalent of the sun shining brightly. It can’t be bedtime. When she does sleep, she
normally goes down for a good 11-12 hours.
So I’m not mad at that. Hubby and
I are parents who actually have alone time.
But what happens when it’s just me and the kid?
Mommies don’t get boring.
At least not boring enough for Duckie to decide to sleep rather than spend
2 hours in our hotel room in Islamorada, doing everything possible to stay awake
while simultaneously annoying me. Then,
as is her way in the company of others, she was up bright and early. Did I mention that when she does not get her
11-12 hours of sleep per night she gradually turns into a Wildling?
The following night we woke up at 5am to catch our flight
from Fort Lauderdale to DC. She’d clocked
about 9 hours of sleep. The next night,
I had the distinct pleasure of sharing a room and bed with her at my brother’s
house. I waited until she was knocked
out to get into the bed. She slept
pretty well, while kicking, pushing and kneeing me at all times. At one point she reach out grabbed my scalp,
dug her nails in and pulled. Hmm … maybe
she wasn’t really sleeping.
Anyway, she probably slept 9 or 10 hours that night. The cumulative effect of several nights with
not enough sleep were evident as we explored DC. On the way into the White House she was
convinced that I and all the members of the CIA were directing her to the wrong
place, since that white building across the street must be the White
House. (Fact you already know: Every
building near or on the National Mall is white.) Once inside she hopped and
skipped and pranced her way through, which is what she did on our previous tour
while singing “Ring Around the Rosie” as loud as possible. Fortunately, this time the tour was self-guided,
unlike the tour we did three years ago. So this time her shenanigans did not disturb
anyone. Whew!
But by the time we finished lunch at The Hamilton and walked
to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, I was at my breaking point. I had a delusion of taking to her to this
awesome museum filled with rocket ships and she’d be like, “Aw mom, this is the
greatest place on earth. I can’t wait to
learn how everything works!” Instead she
said, “This place is awesome” and proceeded to run from one exhibit to another,
never taking a moment to absorb any information. Reading, which she recently
became very good at, was not an activity in which she was willing to
engage. We got to go inside an actual
space ship at her demand. And she was in
and out in under 10 seconds. It was like
she was checking off a 6 year-old’s bucket list of “Places I’ve never run
through before.”
Having been bombarded with non-stop questions about the
itinerary for the last 3 days (Mom, when do we go to the White House? Mom do we
go to the White House today or tomorrow?
Mom, you forgot to tell me when we are going to the White House!) I was too burnt out to deal with, Mom can we
go to this part of the museum? Mom where are we going after the museum? And on
and on. Fortunately, Hubby had joined us
just before the White House Tour and seeing the glued on look of frustration on
my face he said, “You need a break.”
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| Typewriter Eraser at the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Park |
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| Fountain at Sculpture Park |
Truer words had never been spoken. Luckily for me, I did see enough of this
coming to book us a room at Embassy Suites DC Convention Center. Because if I had to sleep in the same room
with the Wildling for another night I might had truly lost it. Instead, the hotel had happy hour at
5:30pm. Me and my sangria found our way
to relaxation. We were joined by a
friend for drinks and then dinner and then we were passed out by 9:30pm. And little Miss Wildling, was nice and cozy
sleeping alone in the dark on the pull out sofa in the next room! Ah! Peace is a two room suite for $190. Bonus points for the free made to order
breakfast. (Better in New Orleans than
DC but, free is for me.)
Take away: It seemed
like a really nice idea to have an extended spring vacation (10 days). It also seemed like a cool idea to have most
of that be just mommy and daughter. Independently
these could be good ideas. Together, bad
idea! I’m still detoxing. 10 straight full days of parenting is really
too much, particularly once the child can talk, think and form ideas. I’m just sayin!
If you’d like to visit the White House, you’ll need to make
a request through your Congressperson (senator or representative). Most requests can be made via their websites
or email. You should make your request as
far in advance as possible to increase the likelihood of having it
approved. You will not be notified of
approval until approximately 2 weeks before. But again if you request more than
6 weeks in advance and avoid peak season (i.e. summer) you’ll get what you’ve
requested.
Well I’ve been away for 10 days and the world didn’t wait
for me to come back. So I’ve gotta go
lots to do (like schedule “me time.”)
Talk soon …. BMK
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