Lil' S2 got an earache last night. He seems to be susceptible to them, and it's terrible, because he wakes up and starts howling -- "MY EAR HURTS! OW! OW! MY EAR HURTS!" -- and he basically doesn't stop the entire night. Seriously, he just doesn't shut up. He will drift off for a half-hour, 45 minutes if we're lucky, but then he wakes back up and starts moaning again. I know he's in pain, but I also know there's really nothing anybody can do about it. I wish you could teach suffering in silence to a four-year-old.
S usually gets the brunt of it, because those maternal instincts take over, and she feels a sense of obligation to comfort her sick child and doesn't want to leave him. I suggested we take shifts sleeping in the basement, so that we each get in a few solid hours, at least, but she said that she'd be too anxious to sleep without him anyway. It worked out for me, in the sense that I got to sleep in the quiet basement the whole night (or what was left of it, anyway), but it didn't work out for me, in the sense that S was exhausted all day today, and she crashed out at 6:30 pm (literally), and so I had to do all the parenting for the night, and the morning for that matter, and in between. Lil' S2 stayed home, and I had to tend to him.
He actually could have gone to school. He seemed completely okay. Every time I asked if his ear still hurt, he said yes, but I could tell that he was just saying that because he wanted to stay home. It was fine, though. If a kid is up half the night screaming about his ear, he can stay home the next day. I don't have a problem with that. It wasn't too bad either. I didn't want to take another sick day, so I worked from home while watching him. He mostly left me alone and played by himself, and I called on my favorite babysitting crew, the Mighty Morhpin Power Rangers, whenever I needed them. I was able to get quite a bit of work done, actually. It helped that he zonked out right in time for my 3:00 meeting. I had to wake him up at 4:30, just so I would be able to get him to bed tonight.
I'm quite tired myself. It was already around 2:00 am when I was finally able to go downstairs, and I don't like the basement guest room bed. I don't really like any bed but my own. I'm such a delicate flower, when it comes to sleeping. Even in the most ideal circumstances it can be hard for me fall asleep. Throw off my routine a little bit, and that's me fucked.
I was so resentful last night, too -- not of Lil' S2 (he's only four, after all) -- but of Mother Nature. Why do we even need to sleep? Sleep is an underrated terrible part of life. In fact, I would say sleep is the worst physical part of being a human. Some might argue pain is worse, but physical pain serves an obvious purpose in our survival. Sleep, on the other hand, what is it good for?
I understand our bodies need periods of dormancy, so they can recover from the rigors of active life. But, why can't we get that from rest? Like, we get tired, and we lay down, and we wait, and then we get back up when we aren't tired anymore. You just sub out of the game of life for a little while until you are ready to go back in.
Think about how much better that would be. You could plan your recovery time down to a tee, and you would never have to worry about missing some of it because you couldn't get your body to go into a weird trance-like state right away. Also, imagine the efficiency gains. You have 15 minutes before a work call? Just lay down, and that's 15 less minutes you will have to do it at night.
Why can't it be like that? It literally makes me mad that it isn't, because it seems totally possible. I'm not requesting perpetual motion. I'm not asking for something that violates the laws the of the physical universe. I want our bodies to work exactly as they do now, except they don't need to actually sleep. If you lay down with your eyes closed that's good enough.
Alright, that's all for now. I, unfortunately, need to get some sleep.
Until next time...
S usually gets the brunt of it, because those maternal instincts take over, and she feels a sense of obligation to comfort her sick child and doesn't want to leave him. I suggested we take shifts sleeping in the basement, so that we each get in a few solid hours, at least, but she said that she'd be too anxious to sleep without him anyway. It worked out for me, in the sense that I got to sleep in the quiet basement the whole night (or what was left of it, anyway), but it didn't work out for me, in the sense that S was exhausted all day today, and she crashed out at 6:30 pm (literally), and so I had to do all the parenting for the night, and the morning for that matter, and in between. Lil' S2 stayed home, and I had to tend to him.
He actually could have gone to school. He seemed completely okay. Every time I asked if his ear still hurt, he said yes, but I could tell that he was just saying that because he wanted to stay home. It was fine, though. If a kid is up half the night screaming about his ear, he can stay home the next day. I don't have a problem with that. It wasn't too bad either. I didn't want to take another sick day, so I worked from home while watching him. He mostly left me alone and played by himself, and I called on my favorite babysitting crew, the Mighty Morhpin Power Rangers, whenever I needed them. I was able to get quite a bit of work done, actually. It helped that he zonked out right in time for my 3:00 meeting. I had to wake him up at 4:30, just so I would be able to get him to bed tonight.
I'm quite tired myself. It was already around 2:00 am when I was finally able to go downstairs, and I don't like the basement guest room bed. I don't really like any bed but my own. I'm such a delicate flower, when it comes to sleeping. Even in the most ideal circumstances it can be hard for me fall asleep. Throw off my routine a little bit, and that's me fucked.
[My favorite part of this clip is the instrumental of The Beatles "Golden Slumbers" playing in the background.]
I was so resentful last night, too -- not of Lil' S2 (he's only four, after all) -- but of Mother Nature. Why do we even need to sleep? Sleep is an underrated terrible part of life. In fact, I would say sleep is the worst physical part of being a human. Some might argue pain is worse, but physical pain serves an obvious purpose in our survival. Sleep, on the other hand, what is it good for?
I understand our bodies need periods of dormancy, so they can recover from the rigors of active life. But, why can't we get that from rest? Like, we get tired, and we lay down, and we wait, and then we get back up when we aren't tired anymore. You just sub out of the game of life for a little while until you are ready to go back in.
Think about how much better that would be. You could plan your recovery time down to a tee, and you would never have to worry about missing some of it because you couldn't get your body to go into a weird trance-like state right away. Also, imagine the efficiency gains. You have 15 minutes before a work call? Just lay down, and that's 15 less minutes you will have to do it at night.
Why can't it be like that? It literally makes me mad that it isn't, because it seems totally possible. I'm not requesting perpetual motion. I'm not asking for something that violates the laws the of the physical universe. I want our bodies to work exactly as they do now, except they don't need to actually sleep. If you lay down with your eyes closed that's good enough.
Alright, that's all for now. I, unfortunately, need to get some sleep.
Until next time...
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