Jeremy was out of town last night. It was a normal evening-- homework projects, messes, family home evening at the park, messes... and by the time all eight were tucked in, I was exhausted. For the first time in a long time I actually made a good decision about bedtime and immediately went to bed. It was just after 10. I was so excited for a good night's rest-- almost giddy as I plopped down on my mattress. A half hour later, the Sophi siren went off. Not an unusual thing, but unwelcome nonetheless. I took her to the bathroom, gave her a drink, lotioned her legs, and stumbled back into bed. Twenty minutes later, I hear it again. This continued throughout the entire night. She has never, ever had a night this bad-- and it happened when I was so exhausted to begin with. She literally woke up at least 15 times, and each time I had to try to help her because otherwise she would wake up Xander and Lexi (they share a room.) I was so tempted to just put her in bed with me, but I didn't want to start something I would regret. I did at one point set her on the couch in the living room and told her she had to stop whining before I would let her go back to her room. Didn't work-- just made her all the more upset. There is no reasoning with her when she is half asleep. It seems unfair that I woke up bleary-eyed and wiped out while she woke up perky and happy as a clam! She even said in her cute little voice, "I sorry I woke you up, Mommy!" like that would take care of everything!
After getting all the kids off to school while fighting the urge to be Grumpy Mrs., I spent $200 getting Elli's mattress cleaned. Yes, our lovely Elli took off the sheets, sheet protector, pajamas and diaper and had a fun time in bed. Argh. Luckily this happened on Mother's Day morning, so this particular time, I wasn't the one to clean her all up! When I called to get an estimate yesterday, he quoted $75. But as they saw just how bad it was, the price went up. She has the second best mattress in the house (it's a king, and was our guest bed until we ran out of room for a guest room) and it is now sanitary again. This time we are putting two mattress protectors under the sheet and figuring out a way to make them stay!!! We have also got to figure out a way to keep her in pajamas! We have tried EVERYTHING I can think of, including putting one-piece pajamas on backwards and saftey-pinning them, but apparently Elli thinks she is Houdini.
I'm assuming you know me well enough not to have to say it, but just in case-- let me make it clear that I love Miss Houdini with all my heart and wouldn't trade her for anything in the world. Even when she takes her diaper off and plays with it. Even when she breaks all of my Willow Tree figurines. Even when she finds a way to break closet doors, pull down dressers, make hundreds of dents in our walls, open jars of vaseline and cover herself in it... you get the picture.
Someday, when we find our way into a bigger home, I am determined to create the most wonderful, fun, ELLI-PROOF space for our little darling. It will have carpeted walls and a keyboard bolted to the floor and fun things to climb on and one of those sensory bean bags that vibrates and musical toys galore. And then I won't have to worry about finding her in places like this:
Yes, the stairwell is now Elli's favorite place to "hang out." And yes, we have tried over and over and over again to keep her away from it. The good thing is that this girl has balance, and believe it or not, gets hurt way less than any of the other kids. By the way, that thing around her waist is her harness that she has to wear on the bus. And her shirt is wet from her chewing on it all day. And the mess at the bottom of the stairs is because we are messy. Just in case you were wondering...
And now, I am off to enjoy my last 15 minutes sans kids before Sophi comes home from preschool! What should I do-- clean? put some make-up on? sort through important papers? Nah... I think I'll just shut my eyes and listen to the silence. (:
