I never would have guessed

Best part of the day yesterday?  I never would have guessed, but it turned out to be around 11:00pm, when I was just about at my wit’s end.  Here’s what happened…

Monkey was very tired, and not feeling quite up to par.  She was having a very hard time falling asleep.  I was also tired and cranky, and when she came into my room for the 500th time (OK, maybe it wasn’t actually 500 times, but it sure felt like it) I snapped at her.  I’m not proud of it, but that’s what I did.

I hate it when I do that!  It doesn’t help anyone, least of all me.  So I took a deep breath and calmed down.  Then I held onto Monkey and said over and over, “it’s going to be OK, just stay right here with me, it’s going to be OK, just stay right here with me.”  So she finally calmed down, as well.  Lots of snuggling ensued.

Then I asked her what she thinks about when she can’t sleep.  She said she thinks about what she did that day and what she’s going to do the next day, and she gave some examples.  She asked me what I think about when I can’t sleep, and I started going through the list of the millions of things I have to do.  She started laughing and begging me to stop!

Well, one of the examples that Monkey mentioned made me think of something that happened when Pumpkin was small.  So I started telling stories…of Pumpkin when he was little, of Monkey when she was little, of me when I was young, and even stories about my own mother.  At some point Pumpkin came in to say goodnight, and ended up joining us as well.  Instead of being angry and upset and worrying about the fact that we weren’t sleeping, we spent the time remembering funny and sweet family stories.

So, we’re all a bit tired this morning.  But I wouldn’t trade that time for anything.  Lying under the covers, in the dark, telling stories of our family’s past, cuddling and laughing together.  Very best moment of the day.

Sometime, I’ll have to write these stories down:

• Pumpkin tried a “butt bounce”
• Pumpkin asks for “peas”
• Monkey wants her orange pants
• The first time Monkey tried a s’more
• I calmly ask my mother to put her left foot on the floor

When I can, I’ll post those and link to them.