the myth of the extra hour

i used to really look forward to the time change in the fall. i liked the idea of getting that extra hour of sleep, and it gave me a good excuse to be late for whatever i didn't want to do the day after the change. ah, yes, life was good. i couldn't understand why other countries didn't follow this wonderful plan, make a holiday of it. i never got why people argued that it was stupid and pointless to keep doing it here or why the government was considering doing away with it. what was everyone's problem with getting an extra hour of sleep? well, now i know. apparently the dissenters are, like i have become, parents to very young children. it seems that a two year old and a nine month old don't quite grasp the concept of daylight savings, and their lack of understanding and cooperation translates into my lack of sleep. not just the extra hour of sleep, either. my regular sleep has been disrupted and i now see the error of my ways as a follower and supporter of the daylight savings plan.

it started out so well. we all got a good night's rest on saturday night after working at the new house for a few hours. we were tired enough to hit the sack according to the new time without a second thought. the girls went down pretty easily and we parents spent the extra time allotted watching episodes of "chuck" on the computer, thinking we would get that extra hour, so it wouldn't be a problem. we went to bed around 12 or 12:3o, which felt more like 11 or 11:30 because of the change. and it worked just fine. we were up and ready for church on time without a hitch. but it was just a tease. i would discover later that it would not be so easy an adjustment as we had thought.

last night, we went to bed, again, around midnight. the girls had been pretty easy, again, to put to bed, so i had no reason to believe there would be a problem. but then i was rudely jerked from my peaceful slumber by a crying mali. i let her go for about four minutes thinking she would be able to put herself back to sleep as she usually does (she has been sleeping through the night consistently for weeks now). i was wrong. the fussing turned to crying, turned to yelling and kicking. so i climbed out of bed and spent a few minutes calming her down and put her back down. a while later, i am interrupted from a wonderful dream involving a beach and spies by the sound of a wailing mali. again, i wait to see if she is going to soothe herself, but am disappointed that i, again, have to intervene. again, i slide back into bed and am not even able to drift back to sleep before it happens a third time. then, a while later, while i am sleeping only fitfully, i am awakened a fourth time. i don't know what time it was, but the sun was beginning to peek through my windows when i returned to the bed. then, at 7am, she is awake again. this time, she is not going back to sleep. and, as an added bonus, she has woken up her sister. now, ordinarily, both the girls sleep until around 8 to 8:30. but because they do not understand the time change issue, they are unwilling to reason and go back to bed. so we were up and about at 7:36am.

now, not only was the night a disaster on the slumbering side, but the day didn't fare my better. recall that mali generally takes three naps during the day: 30 min. at 10am, 2 hrs. at 1pm, and 30 min. at 5 or 5:30 pm. noe takes her 2 hr. nap at 1 pm, as well. so i can usually nap during that two hours if i need the extra rest, as i needed it today. well, because mali was up so much last night, she took her 2 hours at 10, waking up just in time for lunch and to watch me put noe down for her nap. then, when she stayed up while her sister slept, not going back down for a very short nap until just after 5, at which point her sister was up and running around again. so i did not get to make up the sleep from last night.

let's recap: before daylight "savings", i was getting a full night's sleep of about 8 hours then a possible extra 2 hours during the day. after "falling back" to get an extra hour of sleep, i got about 5 hours last night (and not a very good 5 hours) and no nap during the day. so rather than gaining an hour, i've somehow managed to lose 5. and tonight is not looking any better. it's only 11:30 and i've already been in mali's room twice. had we stuck with the old clock time, which was working just fine, by the way, i would be well rested and happy. i think, perhaps, the presidential candidates should address this issue, and maybe then i would pay a bit more attention to the election.