I Knew That Thing Was Trouble

As a mother, I have spent countless hours in a state of wakefulness when I should have been asleep. I refer, of course, to the many nights I have spent rocking a colicky baby (this is for you, Tyler!), cooling a feverish brow, cleaning up after a sick child (yes, that kind of sick child), calming fears after a nightmare, providing relief from wheezing, sneezing, itching and coughing, citing "fun things" to a sleepless child--noble causes, one and all.

And sure, I don't necessarily approach each interruption of my slumber with joy and delight, but I wouldn't dream of doing anything differently. I'll take the interruptions if I can make my children feel more safe, more secure, more loved.

That was before last night.

I was awakened at some minutes after 1:00 a.m.--startled is more like it--by hair tickling my face and warm breath on my cheek. I jolted awake as I became aware that Peyton was hunched over me, inches from my face, and Darcy was right behind her. Uh-oh. This can't be good.

I think I've mentioned that Peyton has two metal expanders in her mouth and, honest to Pete, she sounds like she's got a mouthful of marbles most of the time. Now at 1:00 a.m. even the most lucid person is going to sound garbled to me, but this was Peyton doing the talking. And crying. I couldn't understand a thing she said. Finally Darcy took pity on me and said there was a noise in their room and they couldn't sleep. Oh my word--Darcy and her ever-lovin' noise! She is ME made over, bless her heart. She could hear somebody cough in San Antonio!

Knowing there was no way I was going back to sleep until the disturbance had been taken care of, I dragged myself out of bed and plodded up the stairs to the girls' room. I glanced at Darcy and was amazed to find that the child looked like it was the middle of the afternoon; no glazed look in her eyes, no sleep-induced drool on her chin, nothing. I said, "Darcy, how long have you been up?" She said, "The sound woke me up around midnight and we can't figure out where it's coming from." Ay-yi-yi--an hour they've been up! I said, "How often do you hear the sound?" "Maybe every ten minutes or so." Ugh--it just keeps getting worse and worse!

So I grabbed Peyton's pillow sham and stretched out on the floor near where the girls seemed to think the sound was originating. I'm not sure how much time passed but just laying there got old real quick, so I got up, flipped on the light and started hunting, as did the girls. And no sooner did we start snooping around than I heard the familiar and much loathed warble of Peyton's Tamagotchi. Her Tamagotchi! She was SO embarrassed when she realized it was her electronic toy that had caused such a ruckus, and she promptly silenced it (more kindly than I would have, I might add). The girls promptly went right to sleep whereas I, fully awake now, tossed and turned in my bed for at least an hour before finally nodding off again.

Some things never change.