Why I Need to Stay Up Later

Rest assured that, no, I'm not actually up this late. I went to bed around 1a, but Ellie woke up about 30 minutes ago, and it was certainly my turn to be up with her.

Sarahlynn likes to stay up late. It makes sense, of course. She's home all day with Ellie. No time for herself. So, after I go to bed, Sarahlynn finally has time just for her and her alone. Problem is that she's a bit ADD and quite a bit OCD. These things were either inherrited or learned from her mother.

Here's how she describes her thinking to me:

• "It's nearly 1a, I should think about going to bed."
• "I'll just check the boards one more time."
• ...15-20 minutes later...
• "I really should check everyone's blogs one more time."
• ...15-20 minutes later...
• "OK, now off to bed. I need to take my vitamins and get a glass of water."
• ...walks to the kitchen...
• "Oh, the dining room realy could be dusted."
• ...walks toward the linen closet to get a dust rag...
• "I'll pick up some of Ellie's toys from the floor."
• ...bends down...
• "But this laundry should be folded."
• ...as she grabs the first piece of Ellie's laundry...
• "I need to pack her spare outfits for preschool, but those baggies need to be washed."
• ...sets everything down to find to find the zipper baggies for Ellie's spare clothes...
• ...walks past the kitchen table with her computer...
• "I wonder if anyone's posted a reply to my Dilbert thread."
• ...cycle starts again...
• ...repeat until after 2 am...
• "I'm so tired... just going to collapse in bed."
• "After I play one game of Spider Solitaire."
• [from the nursery] "aaah"
• "She'll settle herself."
• [from the nursery] "Aaah"
• "I'll give her a few minutes to see if she settles or works herself up."
• [from the nursery] "Aaah! Aaah!"
• "All right."
• ...Next 15 minutes spent nursing....
• ...Another 15-30 minutes spent rocking Ellie...
• ...Then I take over if Ellie still hasn't gone down...
  

I haven't depicted that as well as Sarahlynn can, but I think you can get the point.

When I stay up with her until we both actually go back to the bedroom, Sarahlynn can get to bed at a decent hour. Last night, I said goodnight at 1a or so. Sarahlynn said, "I'll be there soon." Just to be sure I offered to stay up a little later, but she turned me down, insisting that she'd be in bed soon. She was still blogging at 2:20... After having gotten obsessed with waxing her eyebrows!