"If all mankind minus one were of one opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind." ~John Stuart Mill, On Liberty, 1859

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

of naps & neighbors

Exhausted boy
Max has been having a lot of trouble sleeping lately. Not at night, just during the day. When its time for a nap at school, he does everything possible to keep himself awake. He lies on his cot with one leg in the air until he physically can't hold it up any longer & he lets it drop only to raise the other leg and start all over again. He sings to himself (which, in a 3 yr old's voice, is not always to himself), tosses & turns & makes enough noise that the kids around him have a hard time sleeping too. At first his teachers would give him a book & let him read or he could go to the drawing table or the puzzle table as long as he let his friends rest. The problem is that he really needs that nap. When I would arrive around 4pm to pick him up, he would be exhausted (but still fighting sleep every step of the way). Only when I strapped him into his car seat would his fingers make their way to his mouth & invariably he would be out within 5 minutes. This would have been OK if it was just a little car nap but no, he was so tired he would sleep all the way home, continue to sleep on the couch while I made dinner, wake up to eat, then ASK to go to bed! At 6:30pm! So in order to get him to take a nap, one of his teachers helps Max wrap himself in his blanket (he thinks being a Max burrito is hysterical) and sits next to him & pats his back or if he's having a really hard time, she holds him & rocks. A couple of days ago, Max seemed to be having an extra hard time & started crying. When Heather explained that it was rest time & his actions were telling her he needed help falling asleep, he replied "You're turning me off & I don't like being turned off!" But he took a nap! For 2 hours!

Max loves to play in the dirt & our neighbor, Karolyn likes to garden. Her youngest is 24 so she likes to spend time with Max when she needs a little kid fix. A couple of weeks ago, Karolyn & Max made a friendship garden next to our mailbox. He had so much fun digging the holes for the plants and laying rocks for the border. Its so nice to have friendly neighbors!



Max digging holes for the new plants

Max & Karolyn loading rocks in to his wagon for the border


Almost done

Just a few more finishing touches