Whack-a-mole

The last few nights have been spent playing a game I like to call "Whack-a-mole." Only the contestants aren't moles, they're kids. And I'm not allowed to use an actual mallet on their heads.

It goes like this: get them all to sleep, one wakes up. Get that one down, another one wakes up. We all sleep for a while. Two pop up. Get one down, and the third wakes that one up again. All sleep again. One creeps into our bed, like a stealth bomber. Get him to sleep, carry him back to his room. Repeat all night long, until the crack of dawn comes and at least 4 of us are crammed into my bed like sweaty sardines. But don't leave the bed, no matter how uncomfortable, or precariously balanced on the edge, because one of the lucky ones that's still sleeping might roll onto the baby.

This is what I say in my head, as I stumble around all night, envisioning a rubber mallet: "go-to-sleep-Go-to-sleep-go-to-sleep-Go-to-sleep." This game is so much fun, particularly when Rick is away. I can't wait to go to bed & start playing. But my favorite part is when the worst offenders sleep late in the morning. That just seems wrong. Or when Phoenix takes a 3 hour nap at 8am. Wrong again. (But ok, I'll take it!) The other refrain in my head is that song from the '90's "I get knocked down, but I get up again... you're never gonna keep me down..." We sing that to Phoenix, king of the 20-minute cat-nap, a lot, and replace the words while we dance him around like a puppet: "I go to sleep, but I get up again - you're never gonna keep me down. I close my eyes and they pop up again - I'll never sleep the whole night through..." Just a little something to keep us laughing. :)