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Stupid Good Night’s Sleep

DAILY SNACK

I slept last night, I really splept.

But that wasn’t the plan.

Irene had been sound asleep since just after 8pm,

But Colum’s bath seemed to have a re-energizing effect.

Finally, at 9:30pm I ushered him to his bed and asked that he be extra careful not to wake his sister.

I agreed to bring him a sip of milk,

And when I got back he had pulled a chair over to the light switch and turned it on.

Irene woke up with a vengeance and would not return to her crib.

Finally I had to crawl in beside her and nurse her and wait for her to fall off.

This baby who has been falling asleep in her own crib since she was a newborn,

This baby who I have never nursed down or rocked to sleep,

Did not want to be left alone.

By the time I crawled out of her crib at 10:30pm,

I had been lulled into a such a sleepy state that I lay down on my own bed “for just a minute,”

Leaving the miles-long list of things I was supposed to do undone.

I am so screwed.

By Rebecca Cuneo Keenan

Rebecca Cuneo Keenan is a writer who lives in Toronto with her husband and three children.