Strange Happenings

1. All three kids slept till 7. What's going on? If you know us well, you know that we have early risers. Very early. We're talking between 5-5:30. We've been given lots of great advice on how to make our kids sleep later. Tried it all. Doesn't work. Nap, no nap, to bed earlier, to bed later, less to eat, more to eat, dark curtains, white noise, in bed with us, etc. etc. etc. Nothing works. And then, this morning we were given a gift. All three kids slept soundly until 7. Even better--not one got up in the night. No potty trips, no bad dreams, no feedings. It is amazing how much better I felt after a decent night's sleep. I was patient, loving, happy. In fact, I think I'm going to blame every bad mommy moment I've ever had on the fact that I've been horribly sleep deprived for 5 years. It's nice to know that when I'm well-rested, I'm actually a fairly decent mom. Now if I could just convince my kids. . .

2. Adding to the bliss of a good night's sleep, I've had a great morning. Grace is off at school, Emme is with my friend Heather, and Max is back asleep. (Love this boy!) I was making some banana bread and thought I heard a voice. I turned off the mixer and heard a creepy little girl voice saying, "Let's be friends. I like you." I started doing my mental check list. . ."Girls, not home. Tv's, not on. No radio. No baby monitor. Doors are locked, no neighbor kids." It was starting to unnerve me a bit. I finally found the culprit! Emme's Lily LeapPad doll is running low on batteries and was going off randomly in the living room. Freaky! But, it reminded me of yet another strange happening. . .

3. When Grace was little, she had a talking Elmo, Cookie Monster, and Big Bird toys. She choose to take Big Bird with us on a trip to visit my parents. He would talk when you pushed different body parts. If you pushed his hand, he'd say, "You found my hand!" or if you pushed his stomach, he'd say, "I'm hungry." You get the picture. My dad is a notoriously bad sleeper. He'll wake up at 3 or 4 in the morning and then be up for a few hours before he's able to fall back asleep. (Yes, Dad I'm going to blame you for all of our sleep problems!) He'll usually get up and go to the kitchen or living room to read for a few hours. One night during our visit, we must have forgotten to put Grace's toys away. Little did we know that Big Bird was running low on batteries. So in the middle of the night, my dad fumbled his way through the dark house to the living room. As he tried to find his way toward his favorite chair and a lamp, he suddenly heard a slow, rattly voice say, "I can see you!" He stopped in his tracks and then heard, "I can hear you!" So creepy! He told me the next morning that it took him a few minutes of searching before he tracked down the culprit. Big Bird had been left under the couch. Needless to say, when he was returned to Grace the next morning, the batteries had been removed!