Sleep deprivation

Sleep deprivation is something all mums experience at some point. They do say that it can be used as a form of torture. As a shift worker, I've always felt fairly well prepared for any sleep deprivation - but I am also well aware of the mind altering effects of 'overtiredness'. Every week when I drive home from night duty I have to find a space of mind where I don't over or under focus on driving. If I focus too much, I feel more tired. If I focus too little, I can loosen my grip on the steering wheel.


So why do I put Mr 2 through similar pain? You see both my boys have got to an age where any sort of sleep during the day greatly affects their ability to go to sleep in the evening. Mr 2 began to experience this lately. At first I worked at reducing the length of his sleep - waking him after an hour... but that hour still added 2-3hrs on to his bedtime. So now I try distracting him through his tired time to keep him awake. If he has been awake all day he falls asleep within minutes of laying down with us at bedtime.


This plan is foiled by any trip in the car for any more than 15 minutes or, by Mr 2 sneaking away quietly while I am distracted and falling asleep almost anywhere...


It's a work in progress :)

Sleeping across the threshold!

But it's a button

Next week is preparation week, and the following is our first week of our new routine. At the moment I am so tired from a busy week of work that I can't imagine having time to sit and be with the boys.


But it doesn't have to be hard.  Last week we were having a challenging day - both boys were a little tired and we were doing that horrible thing where the more I wished they'd play with something the less likely it became.


So I pulled out two containers filled them with rice and some loose buttons and gave one to each boy to rummage through. Mr 3 separated all the buttons and then spent another 20 minutes pouring rice into different containers. Mr 2 ate some rice, found some buttons and then just enjoyed mashing the mix around in his fingers.


Simple and easy and it allowed me time to take a breath, have a cup of tea and watch and enjoy the boys.