Monday, May 18, 2009

Exhausting

I'm not generally a subscriber to the 'Murphy's Law' philosophy, but as of late it seems that if it's not one child, it's another. By this I mean that if it isn't Kate peeing her bed in the middle of the night, it will be Claire falling out of hers. If it isn't Luke failing to nap, it's Claire refusing to do so. Today it was the latter. I am at a point where I need an afternoon nap so as not to be 1.) a total grump in the evening hours, and 2.) to maintain some semblance of sanity and/or coherence after 4pm. In recent months, it has been Kate who has challenged the nap time routine, preferring instead to roam the house adult-free and cause untold destruction. Finally, she is starting to behave in this arena, and has passed the reins to her younger sister, who is exponentially more...dangerous...in this regard.

Today, something woke me around 3pm, probably about 30 minutes into a nap. The half-hour point is not a good point to be awakened, as anyone who has been abruptly jarred from sleep at this point will attest to. I checked Luke's room for signs of Claire. She was sitting prettily on her sofa, where she naps, but was mysteriously covered in brownish bits. Upon further investigation, I found that she had not yet slept, and that her pillow and blanket were "missing". Because she had been playing with a toy from the loft, which somehow made it to her room during nap time, I expected to find the missing items there. They were not in the loft. I went downstairs after she told me where to find them, and also found a juice cup on my desk. And one of Luke's burp cloths laid out like a table cloth on a box in the entryway. When retrieving her pillow, I stepped in what appeared to be invisible crumbs on the tile floor of the family room. It occurred to me that the last time I had felt such a sensation on my bare feet had been when Claire had 'salted' the kitchen floor. Sure enough, I looked around the family room to see a pile of salt and bread crumbs on the sofa and floor. On my way upstairs, I saw more bread crumbs on the bottom step. I'm not sure exactly what kind of party she was having while I was napping, but it involved a fresh loaf of zucchini-carrot bread whose top is now missing, and a salt shaker that I am currently unable to find.



5 comments:

Katie said...

Oh no. No no no. I want to cry for you because this kind of shit shouldn't be allowed!!! I really, REALLY hope you can get a good nap today!

(Though it is kind of funny to someone not dealing with that exact thing. What was she DOING? Times like these you wish you had hidden cameras...)

Carrie S said...

Kate and Isaac both seem to have the sneaky destructive gene. It's the first time it's appeared in any of my children and it's a bummer that it's #4 because he can disappear in the fray a lot easier, especially with mommy stuck in bed. Hope you get some sleep today!

Elizabeth said...

This is the kind of story that will be really, really funny a long time from now, but is not at all funny now. I am hoping you are getting naps.

Do you think she will still be Claire the Destoyer when she goes to college?

I cannot tell you how much hope you gave me when you said Kate is "starting to behave in this arena." Nap time breaks (and bedtimes, for that matter) have been utterly devastating and fruitless for the past few months around here and I thought it would be that way forever.

Tim said...

Elizabeth,

Thankfully, Kate has begun to occasionally recommend naps. She did it today, and we certainly didn't try to stop her. There is hope.

Andrea_Ben said...

What a stinker!!