Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Monsters in the Closet

My sweetE has been having a hard time going to sleep. He is scared of monsters in the closet. He keeps talking about a book they read at preschool, last year. Who knows when it really was, this morning is described as last year. So about every two minutes he is down stairs trying to con one of us into sleeping with him. Ducky often gives in. Which only makes it worse. But sweetE is so cute, it is hard to resist. I sometimes have to pull out the mean mommy voice. Especially now that sweetP has to be at school at eight in the morning.

Meanwhile, I have my own monsters in the closet. It is only the second week of summer and already I am having back to school anxiety dreams. Apparently I will be spending the summer obsessing about my "lack" of teaching ability. And how to show my true brilliance in the fall.

The problem is that I cannot spend my summer becoming dependent on sleeping pills. And when I don't take something, I sleep badly and then act badly the next day. Sleep is my be all and end all. So without the required full dose, I get cranky and snarky and not so fun. And the boys are stuck with me all day. I want to be fun mom, not grouchy mom.

I am working on planning out the entire year. I hope that helps because I can't just tell a certain person just how I feel. I've learned to just keep my mouth shut. As challenging as that is.

So what is a girl to do? I haven't tried drinking yet.

2 comments:

Kim said...

I have two pieces of advice:

For your sweet little one, try "The Monster at the End of this Book". It always worked for my kids. Who can be afraid of Grover?

For you, things are much more complicated. In the short term, you might try Benadryl. It helps my allergies as well as providing a good four hours of uninterrupted sleep when I need it. Long term, focus on all of the good things that have been said to you by parents, students, and other teachers. Yes, all those good things that you know are true.

I'll be sending you good thoughts.

Carolyn said...

Everything that kaycie said. She's always got the best advice.

I'm also reminded of the following quotes:

"Believe in yourself! Have faith in your abilities! Without a humble but reasonable confidence in your own powers you cannot be successful or happy." - Norman Vincent Peale

"Whether you think you can or think you can't, you are right." - Henry Ford

Both so true. You are better than you think. Believe it.

And as for sleeping, I was going to say wine (not whine). It always puts me to sleep (or gives me a headache). Whichever.