The Amazing Sleepless Toddler

I didn't want to write anything about my husband being out of town yesterday in case an axe murderer might be reading my blog and decide to come and try to kill me (or at least kidnap my children), but because Brandon is out of town I did the usual last night: I stayed up as late as humanly possible (for me) with all the exterior house lights on to deter the axe murderer and also to decrease the amount of time in which he could enter my house undetected. After The Amazing Sleepless Toddler finally conked out close to 11:30 (you read that right) I watched some old episodes of The Office on Netflix until I couldn't keep my eyes open any longer. 1am. I couldn't sleep past 6 because that's what motherhood does to you (and because I had to get going for the other kids who had school) but Rachael woke up at 8:30. Nine hours. Definitely a nap on the horizon, right? Toddlers need like 12-14 hours of sleep, don't they? (I used to read those "What to Expect" books for every single month of my children's development. I stopped reading them after baby #3 thinking I had it all figured out, but maybe I need to dig out those books again. Nothing like a toddler to humble you.) After the 2-1/2 hour morning marathon getting everyone out the door at the appointed times, I spent the rest of the morning going through the motions of housework like a zombie, just waiting for "naptime". I even did a 20 minute workout video to try and wake myself up a little and I did something I have never, ever done before. Near the end of the workout at a point when I was supposed to be doing floor work, I rolled over and fell asleep. I'm not kidding. That was during Rachael's date with Kipper on Netflix so I got a few minutes in before she came out to play some more. I slogged through a few more hours just trying to keep moving so I wouldn't fall asleep again. Once it was 1:00 we headed for the bedroom. I had just fed her some nice warm chicken noodle soup, we pulled down the shades, turned on the sound machine and snuggled up on Elizabeth's bed to read some books. I thought she would nod off during my very soft and low reading of the best children's Easter book ever, The Country Bunny, but as I watched her eyelids droop several times during the story I also observed her reaction to the sleepiness: spaziness. As soon as she sensed herself drifting off, she would do something, ANYTHING, to keep herself from from falling asleep. If anyone out there in cyberspace reading this has any suggestions for a mother of four who should know it all by now, I'm all ears. This daughter of mine is THE AMAZING SLEEPLESS TODDLER. Long story short: she never took a nap, but I did get her down at 7pm - a totally worthless time to be sleeping since everyone else is wide awake and wanting attention from mom after a long day away from me. This is usually more enjoyable for me if I have had more than ten measly minutes to myself sleeping in work out clothes on the living room floor, but I made it through. If I go to sleep now (11pm) I could get 8 hours!! I have high, high hopes she will arise early, nap normally and go to bed at a decent hour tomorrow. Wish me luck! (And give me suggestions.)