The Napping House

When JT was little, we owned a book called The Napping House.  It's a terrific story about a household where everyone (and everything) are asleep in a large, comfy bed until a mouse stirs, thus upsetting the apple cart until no one in the Napping House is sleeping.  In fact, they're all outdoors, awake and celebrating.

JT loved the book and when we'd reach the end, he'd chuckle heartily and demand that it be read again.  He especially liked the pages where everyone was awake, of course.  I used to secretly blame the book for the fact that no one in my house was of the napping type.  My baby, who reliably slept through the night at 3 months, never reliably napped.  He'd catch a few minutes of rest here and there but that baby wouldn't nap unless you lay down with him.  It was a sort of infant-induced forced nap march.

So most of JT's naps were Mama and JT naps.  I used to envy other mother's tales of folded laundry, book reading, and the general usefulness they would engage in while their baby napped.  That just didn't happen for me.  Even our joint naps were fairly short-lived; by the time he was 18 months old, JT was completely over daytime sleeping.

I mention this now not because of any residual bitterness (well, not much, anyway) but because last Tuesday, JT returned from a sleepover at a friend's house and had himself a big old nap. 

For the last few years, my boy has harbored a not-so-secret ambition to stay awake all night.  And Monday, at E's house, his goal was met.  He and E stayed up all night.  I could tell because JT looked like hell when I brought him home at 11 am, as if he'd been out with the boys and had tied on one-too-many of whatever it is 9 year olds imbibe (root beer, I think).

The idea of spending the day with a cranky, unwashed, poorly rested child was not appealling.  So I put him in a warm shower and then encouraged him to lie down on the living room sofa while we watched an episode of Glee.  Within 20 minutes, he was snoring away. 

90 minutes later, his feet emerged from his polar fleece nest and I figured that he was about to emerge. But, no, he was just stretching.  Finally, just after 3 pm, I woke him myself.  I would not say that it was a pleasant experience; he took some time to come alert and had a Rip Van Winkle aspect to his character. 

He is very proud of his all-nighter success and no doubt informed the entire 4th grade when he returned to school today.  I'm guessing that he'll be agitating for another all-nighter soon enough.  I plan to tell him that's what college is for.