I Have Found The Answer To Our Sleep Problems

Micah doesn't like to go to bed. He's not a sleeper, is what it boils down to. I have always needed sleep. A LOT of sleep. The required eight hours isn't enough to help me function; instead I need about ten hours of zzzzz's per night. Except I haven't gotten ten hours of sleep in so many years that I'm running on Perpetually Sleep Deprived, and it's not a pretty thing. But God has a sense of humor (and likes to test the limits of human endurance on occasion) by pairing opposites in marriage, and opposites in parenting. The mom who needs more sleep than normal people is saddled with the kiddo that needs pretty much no sleep.

So the reality is that we struggle to get Micah into bed every single night. Even with Melatonin involved, there are nights when I'm nearly asleep (at midnight) and hear Micah quietly playing at the other end of the hall.

And then, just because he can, he's up in the 6:00 hour in the morning. It could be worse, and I'm very thankful that he outgrew that. There was a time when he preferred the 5:00 hour. That was a dark time in all of our lives. At least I think it was. I was so tired that I don't remember much about it.

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A friend at church gave Micah a Toy Story glow-in-the-dark removable sticker poster (whew) and now that friend is at the top of his Girlfriend List. (I kid you not. He kissed her at church this weekend.) He couldn't wait to get home from church to put his stickers on the poster. And he was dedicated to the task, too. And then he looked at the box and realized that the thing was supposed to glow. Micah's excitement knew no bounds as I stood in the dark hallway with his silently glowing poster. And then I tacked it on the wall beside his bed and a miracle happened.

People, the boy put his pajamas on of his own accord, laid down in bed, and I haven't heard a sound from him AT ALL. It's been over an hour. It's miraculous, is what it is. Miraculous on par with the virgin birth. Miraculous on par with a mom being fully rested. MIRACULOUS.

If I'd known it was as simple as a Toy Story glow-in-the-dark removable sticker poster, I'd have bought one years ago.