I sleep mommy, daddy bed?

So this week has been busy, and crazy, and kind of all over the place. School has been everything but teaching. I had an opportunity to observe at another local high school, and it was awesome. We were sent to observe a 90 minute block schedule, but I was able to get so much more from the visit. I am hoping our local high schools can open a dialogue about what practices work best and can share those practices. We always seem to be in such competition with one another that we miss opportunities for sharing and growth. Maybe this will be one small step to something like that.

My 11th grade classes have been doing basically everything but English instruction. We had to complete an SAT questionnaire that took forever. Then, I had to walk them through mock interviews and resume writing. That took more time than anticipated. Tomorrow, we do a big survey in the library...losing another day. Things just seem to pile on all at once. Luckily, my 10th graders are basically on track, and they got to witness me go crazy over Dante's Inferno. Yep, I get a little excited.

In news from the home front, our heater decided to break. Luckily, it was a minor issue and we got it fixed, but it left us without heat for a night. This meant borrowing space heaters from my parents and a night of basically no sleep thanks to Lily and her, "I DO NOT WANT TO SLEEP!" attitude.

Yes, my little sleeper girl. The child who brought you this:

She is having sleeping troubles. And it is so hard. She is scared of monsters. She has this insane imagination and she thinks there are monsters in her room. Tonight, we solved that problem by giving her a flashlight for night night. She doesn't want to go to sleep in her room. She wants "mommy and daddy bed." We never let her sleep in our bed, so this was a bit of a surprise. Her nightly routine doesn't change, but lately she is adding things. Last night, she was awake almost all night just fighting sleep. She did have to sleep in our room because of the heat situation, but she wasn't comfortable (she sleeps better in her bed). Thank goodness tonight wasn't too bad. It is just so frustrating when she is fighting sleep then screaming then, sometimes, waking Jack.

I am working so hard to remember that these times will pass. And that there are some really lovely things about putting Lily to bed. She is letting me rock her. She wants me to sing lullabies to her. Mostly, I sing things like "Sweet Baby James" and "The Circle Game", but she seems to like them. They are also the songs I sang to her when she was an infant, so it's a very sweet memory for me. I know, eventually, she won't want to hug me all night long. She won't request another kiss. Another minute to hold my hand. Another a song. I know that. And it's still hard. And frustrating. But we hold on. We look to better days and nights when maybe monsters won't seem so big. 

Also, spring needs to figure it's s*&# out. For real. I am tired of winter. I need to get Lily and Jack outside. Lily is craving walks and sunshine. And, I think, it would help her sleep better to get outside and burn her energy. 

And, finally, Jack is walking. Full time. It's glorious and horrifying.