Back on the Train Gang

I don’t know if I’ve mentioned on this blog that for the past year or so my husband and I have been trying to cook about 2 vegetarian dinners a week — our little version of Meatless Mondays.  The CSA was the main inspiration behind this: we already have these great ingredients coming in, so let’s make the most of them.  Good for our health, good for our budget and all that.

There have been some great successes, and some colossal failures.  Honestly, I think my poor husband sort of dreads these nights because we don’t always know what we’re going to get.  But still I persevere.  My brother-in-law and his wife gave me a subscription to Cooking Light recently and there was a vegetarian risotto recipe calling for farro instead of arborio rice.  I happened to have the key ingredients — leeks and butternut squash — and I was determined to make it.  Problem being, risotto is by definition an hour-long project.  You’re supposed to make an evening out of it.  Stir the rice, sip some wine, stir, sip, chat, and so on.  Luxury.

Babyman’s recent illness and continuing recovery had for a time resulted in extremely early bedtimes (7:15!), so one Sunday I figured I’d do the prep in the afternoon, we’d get the kids down before 7:30, then make risotto.

The best-laid plans…I think we maybe ate around 10pm.  And we decided the recipe could use some bleu cheese, in case you’re wondering.

Have you ever thought about how much “training” is involved in child-rearing?  There’s sleep training; eat training (I skipped this and just started feeding my kids rather than attach a philosophy to it); potty training; and when you’re done with that, nighttime potty training (who knew they were different?).  There’s also the unofficial training: training to use a sippy cup instead of the bottle, training to be a nice person…the training never ends!

Sleep training didn’t really work for us.  Both of my children are good at being asleep.  But getting to that state is a different prospect altogether.  Babyman fights sleep tooth and nail.  I call it the thrash-and-burn: he will literally thrash around in bed, kicking the wall, scratching his sheets, grinding his teeth, anything to keep himself awake.  One night, during the holidays, he was so wound up that he actually threw his hands in front of his face and called out, “NO!” then suddenly collapsed in a deep slumber.  Sleep always wins, I whisper to him.  Just let go.  It always wins.

Babygirl, who until now was happy to be rocked to sleep, is lately taking after her brother.  Her self-torture of choice involves her pacifier: just as unconsciousness starts to take hold, her hand drifts reflexively up to her mouth and she jerks the paci out, then flings it across the room, at which point her eyes fly open and she starts wailing: “Who took my paci?!?!?”  And on and on we go.  No rest for the wicked.

I was thinking yesterday, as I watched my little girl fight to keep her red-rimmed eyes open through yet another attempt at naptime how much she is like and unlike her brother.

Alike in that neither one will take a nap.  I am not a napper, never have been, and some people (ahem, Mom and Dad) have suggested that perhaps this is my karmic comeuppance.  My husband, on the other hand, dreams of one day getting back to a place (not unlike his schedule in college) where he can take a nap every day.  From the week Babyman came into this world, my husband has taken time every weekend to try to get the babies to read some books with him then cozy in for a snooze, all of them piled on the bed.  This usually ends with Babyman insisting on having a tickle party at high volumes…but Babygirl has brought my husband new hope: she doesn’t want to be left alone to nap, but she’s always up for a sleepy snuggle.

Which leads me to the unlike.  If both my kids won’t nap, I truly believe their reasons are different.  I think Babyman has trouble sleeping because he’s just got too much to think about.  He was born with his eyes open as big as saucers and he hasn’t wanted to close them since.  He takes in the world with a feverish intensity and narrates everything going on around him.  I think Babygirl has trouble sleeping simply because she doesn’t want to leave the party.  She is always along for the ride, offering the occasional coo or babble and showcasing the best slow smiles in town to anyone who smiles first.  She’s the “Whatever, man, works for me” to Babyman’s “Actually, I suggestion we should do this, okay Mommy?”

Yin and yang.  It takes both kinds to make the world go round.  Time will tell, of course, but I like the way they’re shaping up.

Now, if only they’d nap…