"sleeping"

Nolan has this thing that he does that cracks all of us up.  If he has done something naughty, and gets chastised for it, he suddenly and very abruptly closes his eyes, wherever he is, and pretends that he's asleep.

This sleeping spell hit after throwing a fit about what we were having for dinner.

Here is an example:  Yesterday he was standing in the bathroom filling up a water bottle, and all of a sudden he calmly informed me, "Woops.  I just wet my pants."  I must say that I didn't take his announcement as calmly as I think he was hoping I would.  I started explaining to him that no, I wasn't happy about it because:  1. he has been potty trained for a year and a half, 2. he was standing right beside the toilet and I saw no effort to even try to make it, and 3. He didn't even seem upset about it!

After I explained this too him with great exasperation, he yelled, "Mom! You're mean!!!"  I came back with, "No, if someone's mean than it's you, because since you decided to do that I now have to deal with the mess, laundry and washing a rug."

Immediately he leaned his head up against the nearest wall and conveniently fell asleep. Standing up.

This was taken right after he was upset with Shawn because Shawn told him he had to get back to work and couldn't wrestle with him anymore.

Nolan has had this little trick for about a year now.  I used to wonder if it was something he did because he didn't have the communication skills to come back with responses, but I am realizing that he is so tender-hearted that he does this when something we say makes him feel bad or feel like he's disappointed us. Ouch.  Saying that makes me feel bad that I say anything that makes him feel so bad!

Anyways, we all get a kick out of the fake sleeping.  As soon as he "falls asleep" the kids start saying how incredibly exhausted he must be, and it has kind-of evolved that we also start saying how much we love him and what a sweet boy he is and how glad we all are that he's in our family.  Of course, he is sound asleep so he doesn't hear a word.  Who knows?  Maybe he falls asleep just so he can be reassured of all of that!

He always "wakes up" before too long, and says he's sorry and that he's just SO tired!  And sometimes at this point he goes and puts himself down for a nap.

This is actually a genuine sleeping picture. Nolan's been playing so hard during the day since the kids have been home that there have been several times now that he's fallen asleep at the island while he watches me make dinner.

There is something about watching your children sleep.  It doesn't matter what kind of day you've had with them, seeing them look so peaceful and innocent always recharges my batteries and gets me thinking about how much better I'll do with them the next day.  So Nolan's really got it figured out!  He knows how to immediately soften my heart before nightfall.:)

I DO wonder about the future implications of this little habit of his.  Won't his wife be thrilled if they are someday having an "elevated conversation" and he suddenly falls asleep?  It just suddenly reminded me of Tevia on "Fiddler on the Roof", when he was pretending at sleeping. A little different scenario, but still manipulative.

I always feel so badly for poor Kami that she had to be the oldest child.  The one that we were learning and experimenting on.  I just remember that there were nights, after she had been put to bed for the night, that I would think about how I had interacted with her and start feeling so bad that I'd have to go into her room and apologize to her even though she was asleep, or else I wouldn't have been able to sleep!

(I just wanted to say that I know that for some reason people are having problems commenting on my blog.   Ever since I lost that whole entry, I have had problems.  My sister finally figured out that she can comment if she signs in as "anonymous". I have my settings set so that anyone can comment, so I don't know why I'm having problems.  Kind-of frustrating!)