They say that one of the reasons kids have trouble sleeping is because they are on the verge of learning something significant. I don’t know who “they” are because “they” are usually something that Jenn read, heard or made up to back up her point. In this case, I am inclined to believe “them”. We have certainly had trouble with sleep in our house in the last week or so. Grace wakes up around 9:30 or 10pm yelling for Daddeeeee. When I get up to her room, I am greeted with a smile and some late-night reading suggestions, so I know she isn’t feeling ill or scared.
Tonight, we happened to be sitting next to the monitor, after I put her to bed and heard her conversation with Bla Bla. Most of it was disconnected words and noises but then she started saying “A-B-C, A-B-C” (which we have heard before as a song or game request) suddenly followed by a “D-E-F-G”. Whoa! We haven’t been able to get her to say more than one letter in a row since she started repeating them back to us. Then, a little while later, we heard “A-B-C-D-F-G-H-I-J”. Her alphabet may have a silent “E” but there is definitely some learnin’ going on.
Prouder parents we could not be. So, we did what any proud parents would do…we high-fived each other and listened carefully to the monitor for a repeat performance or something similar to feed the insatiable hunger for achievement. After a few rounds of “Name the kids at school” and some false starts of “1…2…1″ she suddenly laid down a clear “1…2…5 (oops)..6-7 (“sevben”)-8-9-10…Yay (yay!)”.
There it was, as plain as the smiles on our faces—counting…and letters—as perfect complements to sleep deprivation as I could dream of.