Night Time Terrors

Since our return from vacation the kids have decided to perform sleep deprivation torture on us. They grew accustomed to sleeping next to each other with a light on through the night.

They cry, kick, fuss and scream at bedtime and insist that they are scared and want the hall light on all night. We started shutting it off after they went to sleep, but they wake up periodically, notice the light, and rather than just turn it on, they have to come into our room to wake us up and inform us that the light is off and they are now scared. Needless to say, the light stays on all night now, never mind the energy crisis and the enormous summer electricity bills.

Unfortunately that does not insure a good night's sleep. The kids alternate turns every 30 to 90 minutes to creep into our room. Sometimes we awaken to find a little face peering at us from within a couple inches of our noses, other times they kiss us and tell us they just wanted to say "I love you", and other times they crawl into bed and silently slip under the covers. Both kids are wiggle worms and restless sleepers, so after a couple kicks to Daddy's head, they are carried quietly back to their beds. Of course we awaken in the morning only to find them right back in bed with us. After 2 weeks of this, we are more tired than when the kids were infants.

Norah has also started to sleep walk. She recently stumbled into the living room, made two laps around the coffee table and collapsed sound asleep onto the ottoman. She genuinely appears to be sleepwalking when she wakes Heather during the night, but somehow even in her sleep she knows better than to wake Daddy.