Whack-a-mole

You know that game at the fair where moles pop up out of holes and you're supposed to whack them with a mallet for points? It is pretty much impossible to hit every mole every time it pops up. That is my life right now, except instead of moles, I have children. And instead of a mallet, I have to use my maternal instincts to keep my children at peace. Yesterday, at nap time, the kids demonstrated this game oh so well. I put Ross to bed first. He fought sleep for a good 45 minutes, and from the sounds emitted from his room and the debris left over after nap time, it appears he chucked every toy (including the toy bucket) at the door in his attempt to weasel his way out of nap time. While this ruckus was going on, I first paced around getting Lucy to sleep. Once I thought she was asleep, I took Reid upstairs to watch a cartoon. I had to go back downstairs 3 times to pat Lucy (she likes to have her back patted) back to sleep. The fourth time, I gave up and brought her upstairs to rock. She, of course, promptly fell asleep. I took her back down and started over with the "I needed my back patted every 7 minutes" game. I finally got Lucy to sleep and then put Reid down. Reid made a ruckus, much like Ross's, for a good hour. Shortly after he fell asleep, Ross woke up screaming. I laid down with Ross and got him calmed down and he fell back asleep. Of course, both Reid & Ross were up a half hour later. And I got NOTHING done during nap time.

By the way, today the largest of my three moles won't go to sleep at all. Right now he is playing happily on my screened in porch (which is, thankfully, on the opposite of the house as the bedrooms, as Reid has not mastered the use of his inside voice). Later this evening, though, I'm sure I'll be paying for this lack of nap.