I Am This Woman

Here are twelve things to do when your kid has you up in the middle of the night.

1. Make sympathetic noises while patting child on the back.
2. Turn on a closet light but shut the door as a get-well lowlight – stronger than night light.
3. Fix a glass of ice water, OJ, “cambric” tea*. Fix two - one for you, one for baby.
4. Offer pain reliever, cough drop, Mr. Snuggles.
5. Read cartoons online.
6. Read Cute Overload to cultivate more empathy on less sleep.
7. Reset that one clock that is out of line with recent “fall back.”
8. Plan the breakfast in four hours that will kick off a sick day, or fortify child for school.
9. Flirt with going back to sleep.
10. Ignore dog’s request to go outside.
11. Check moon phase and cloud status, both online and out the window.
12. Check for child’s regular steady breathing; stop flirting and go back to bed.

*Cambric tea is made by dunking the tea bag once in a cup of very hot water to color the water and make it slightly tea-flavored. Add honey, lemon and/or milk for child’s cuppa. So-called “cambric” because in the past when tea was brewed in reusable cambric (linen, muslin) sachets, it was enough to simply dunk a used cambric bag in the water to tinge it with tea-color and flavor.