Sleepy time

The little darlings napping together, June 2006.

Our kids couldn't be more different when it comes to sleep. For Reed, sleep is a necessary evil. He hates that he has to sleep, and would rather be doing something else. And when things conspire to keep us up late, or make us short on sleep, he manages fine. I think he's a lot like Tod in that way. Oftentimes even though Reed's gone to bed an hour or more before I do, he's still awake when I go to bed. He listens to podcasts or sports on the radio, or music. Eventually he sleeps. As far as we know, he isn't using his iPod to play games when he's supposed to be sleeping - well maybe we've caught him doing that once or twice, but it's not a regular thing.

Amy, on the other hand, is just like her Mom. We need our sleep. If she goes a couple of nights without the usual amount of sleep, well look out. Be warned. Stay back 100 feet. Don't look her in the eye. It's not going to be pretty. Lack of sleep definitely has a major effect on her behavior. And mostly she falls asleep pretty quickly at night, though she'd tell you differently. But mostly we know that it's best for everyone if we don't keep Amy up late more than one night in a row. Sometimes we can bribe her into taking a nap, and sometimes she'll even fall asleep during the day on her own, if she's had a couple of late nights. Then we're all happy!

The "Headphone Years" begin

Well I think they're officially here. They probably began a while ago. The Headphone Years. 

The time when we'll find our kids with headphones on as often as not. When they somehow hear the things we don't want them to hear, but tune out when we're actually talking to them when they've got headphones on. Reed logs a lot of time like this with his headphones on (well, technically these are Amy's headphones since Reed's broken a couple of sets and we've told him he's got to buy his own replacements), laughing out loud, maybe playing basketball, maybe just walking around the house. Amy tends to use her headphones more when she's drawing, she hasn't yet taken to wearing them as frequently as Reed does. 

I can't blame them, though....if there'd been such a thing as iPods when I was their age, I probably never would've been without headphones, tuned in to my own little world!