The Quietest Thing

Frances went into Mother and Father's room.

They were asleep.

Frances stood by Father's side of the bed very quietly, 

right near his head.

She was so quiet that she was the quiestest thing in the room.

She was so quiet that Father woke up all of a sudden, 

with his eyes wide open.

He said, "Umph!"

It's pretty rare that we have mid-night interruptions anymore.  There was a time that I thought Noah would never sleep in his own bed, but he's my best sleeper now.  Last week he begged to go to bed at 7:00, where he happily snoozed until 7:00 the next morning.  We still nap most days.  Everyone gets a reasonable amount of sleep most nights. 

But last night bedtime was a circus.  Gallons of pent up energy were spilling out of all of the kids before bedtime, at bedtime, and after bedtime.

Noah was in tears because I didn't tuck him in properly. 

Leah was worried because she spent more time preparing for her math test and her honors choir audition than for her science test.

Emma wanted to chat and chat and chat, and stalled my exit by asking questions like, "What would we do if you and Daddy both died?  What would happen to us kids?"

Adam snuggled right into bed and pretended to head to sleep, although we both knew full well that he was going to dive under the covers and read a few of the last chapters of Harry Potter book 7 before he went to sleep.  But he wakes up bright eyed and bushy tailed every morning, so I don't stop him.

Eventually everyone was  in bed for good.  I spent a few hours enjoying the quiet of the night, Jason kept chiseling away at his mountain of work, and then we headed to bed.  Separately, as is usually the case.

And then sometime in the middle of the night, the quietest thing came and stood next to my head.

She was so quiet that I woke up all of a sudden and said, "Umph!" 

And Emma explained that she had a bad dream and needed to sleep in our bed.

And I mumbled yes and fell back to sleep.

And then another one of the quietest things came and stood next to my head.

And he was so quiet that I woke up all of a sudden and said, "Umph!" 

And Adam explained that his foot hurt and his leg hurt (a common complaint as he's currently growing like a weed).

So I got him some medicine and he got a drink and then got back into bed and I turned off the girls nightlight because it shines bright in my room even though it's at the other end of the hall and I got back into bed, which was a bit more crowded because of Emma, and I went back to sleep.

And I smiled because somehow the quietest thing in the room always manages to be the thing that also robs me of my sleep.

And because I still nap during the day. 

Sweet sleep.