M. Giant's
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Saturday, June 27, 2009  

Worn Out

Strangers who see M. Edium tearing around at the park, the playground, the library, fine dining establishments, or what have you always say the same thing:

"He should sleep well tonight."

You think? Why don't you come over and put him to bed, then? Be sure and block off three hours.

I know, they're just making conversation, and commenting on his irrepressible energy. But they don't realize how irrepressible it literally is. Seriously, try repressing it when he comes into his mom and dad's bedroom at 10:30 p.m. for the eighth time, two and a half hours after we started the long-term project of putting him down for the night.

For a while, we actually thought there was no amount of activity that would tire him out for the evening. But I think we're actually finding it this week. It's a activity level we should probably call "summer."

Take Monday, for instance. He woke up, had breakfast, played at home, went over to our friend Bitter's house to help her pack up for her move this week (Trash went too, because otherwise he packs all the boxes wrong), came back home, went swimming in his inflatable backyard pool, hosted a play date, had a snack, went to his swimming lessons, came home, had dinner, went to bed. Bedtime is typically around eight o'clock. He was asleep by 8:20. I swear to God we didn't drug him.

I don't want to jinx anything, but it's been this way pretty much all week. We get him into his bed, read him one or two stories (the typical amount is four, a measured compromise between our preference of one and his preference of eighty-three), leave the room, and five minutes later he's out.

So apparently there is a level at which he can get tired out. It's just a question of reaching it, and keeping him there. The question is, will that wear us out? What good is having him pass out from exhaustion at 8:30 if we were ready to do the same at 5:00?

I'm sort of entertaining an alternate theory that it's just the solstice. You know, now that the days are getting shorter again, he's not so opposed to going to bed while it's still full daylight outside. The advantage of that theory is that it's easier on us. The disadvantage of it is that this kind of dependence on the celestial calendar may one day drive us to o something like erect a Stonehenge in our front yard or something.

I'm researching permits just in case.

posted by M. Giant 9:15 PM 4 comments

4 Comments:

I feel for you and Trash. Kids are great, and if we could harness their energy, we could totally get off of fossil fuels.

By Blogger stacey, at June 27, 2009 at 9:46 PM  

It's probably the swimming--that tires my girls out faster than anything. So now you just need to build yourself an indoor pool and let him swim every night before dinner! Problem solved.

By Blogger Leigh, at June 29, 2009 at 11:51 AM  

I get that "He'll crash like a meteor" remark all the time.

I long to just smile and say "So true. Hey, are you interested in a babysitting gig? Tomorrow?"

But I'm mostly a huge chicken, so I merely move away slowly.

By Anonymous Anonymous, at July 3, 2009 at 9:07 PM  

My 3 yr old will sleep well after tiring day but it doesn't stop him from getting up at the crack of dawn.

By Blogger Bad Mommy, at July 6, 2009 at 5:40 PM  

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