Babies Are Psychic

"Don't even think about being productive today!"

At least mine is. There is no other explanation. I first became suspicious early on, when the Little One started sleeping in his own room. He was a night person in those days and sometimes wouldn't go down until 1:00, leaving Mommy very tired. But he wouldn't simply go to sleep. He'd close his eyes and fake it as I tiptoed gently back to bed. Then, at the exact second when I found my spot and tucked my covers cozily under my chin, I hear that pitiful whimper calling me back across the hall. Sometimes, when he was feeling extra sadistic, he would wait a few more minutes until I had just barely dozed off before loudly letting me know that my presence was desired.

Those days are thankfully over. The boy is in his crib between 8:30 and 9:00 every night and goes peacefully to sleep without any aid from me. And he's a faithful 12 hour sleeper, nights are blissful once more. Or at least, they should be...

But, since Junior is such a night-time champ he's up considerably more during the daytime and his psychic powers are somehow strengthened by the sunlight. I can generally get him to take a late morning nap a few hours after he wakes up and I take advantage of that time to take a short nap myself, thinking I'll wake up and get some chores done while he finished his snooze. Without fail, this kid always manages to wake up within 2 minutes of me. We live on a main street with my son's room facing the road. Emergency vehicles scream past the house at least 6 times a day and the kid doesn't even roll over. But the sound of Mommy stirring from across the hall and he's wide awake.

So we get up, maybe I feed him and we play for a while. Then, I pull out the Exe-saucer or playmat or playpen and let him entertain himself for a while, which he is generally happy to do... Until he senses that mommy is ready to perform a chore that he can't tag along for. As soon as i starting thinking to myself  "I should start dinner." Or "I should get these floors mopped."  Or any other non-kid-friendly activity... my little psychic companion strikes preemptively and starts kicking up a fuss.

I'm not even mad at the little dude. It's rather brilliant, really. Get all the attention he needs all day long and make mommy d all her chores after 8:30... so what if she can't remember going to bed before 2:00am. I just think he needs to rethink his plan, every time he uses his powers for evil instead of good, he diminishes his chances of getting a baby brother or sister any time soon!

YOUR TURN:
How do you balance the demands of the kids with the demands of... everything else.