CrossRoads Farm

I Wonder What That Dark Time at the End of the Day is For?

10 September, 2005 - 7:27 am

Every morning at about 5 o’clock MyCat (you remember the feline that was supposed to be K’s cat) starts scratching the rug in K’s room and the dog starts whining to go out at about 5:30. He doesn’t need to go out until six and D doesn’t get up to take him out before six. But Jack voices his displeasure nonetheless.

This morning the cat started at 3:15. I got up to make him stop but he ran down the stairs and in a house this size it is ridiculous and fruitless to chase a cat through darkened rooms. So I used the bathroom and shut K’s door on the way back to bed.

I was just getting comfy, in that delightful zone between awake and asleep:
”Mommy. I had a dream that scared me.”

It was H. She occasionally has dreams that disturb her. In the morning, she describes them and she usually laughs at herself for being so scared. But that doesn’t help in the middle of the night, so I got up and climbed into her bed with her. I tried to settle in (H was out in seconds) but that damn cat was still looking for trouble. He’d jump up onto H’s bureau to reach for an insect near the ceiling, or scratch the hall carpet, or wander back and forth across H’s bed. Finally she was awake too. We watched Mittens for a minute, sitting on her window sill, scratching at the corner of it as though he would escape the confines of the house and be free to torture field ice as they slept. I’d finally had enough. So I sat up slowly and back-handed him in the head.

Hey, I love animals as much as the next exhausted housewife – but enough is enough already.

At any rate, I lay back down, wondering if H would care if I went back to my own bed now. But suddenly she turned toward me and wrapped herself around me. One arm thrown across my ribs and one knee on top of mine. Her face snuggled into my neck. H is such a powerhouse of energy cuddling with her is nearly impossible. There was no way I was letting this opportunity pass. So I stayed and listened to her breath as the sky outside the window began to brighten.

At 5:30 the alarm in our room rang.

D has to be in Burlington this weekend. He’s staying overnight and the girls are having a friend over to spend the night. So I got up and went back to my bed to cuddle with D for a minute before he had to get up.

But as for sleep??

Hardly any since three fifteen.

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