Serious Sleep Aversion

My children seem to be opposed to many things......cleanliness, doing as they're told, sitting still, using tissues, eating their dinner, getting ready for school, watching sensible television......I could go on for hours. Miss Tornado Two is averse to the toilet. Mr 5 is not interested in removing his finger from his nose. Mr 10 is dead set opposed to eating fruit...or vegetables....or anything for that matter. And Miss 8? She's pretty much against anything that requires any sort of effort on her behalf. 'Do as you please' seems to be her catch phrase of the moment.

I can handle all of this, really I can. As much as I feel like I'm headbutting a brick wall for a large portion of the day I can deal with these minor misdemeanours that my children dish out.

There is one thing I can't handle however, and that is their deep and uncompromising aversion to sleep.

How can anyone be averse to sleep?  I hear you ask. What could possible possess these small people to want to be up to all hours of the night and then be bouncing off the walls at 5 am in the morning?

I have absolutely no idea.

I love sleep. I savour it. I obsess about it. I adore climbing into bed, burying myself under a million blankets and drifting off into the land of nod. Only to be disturbed....disrupted.....interrupted.
'Mum, I need to go to the toilet'
'I'm thirsty'
'My ear hurts'
'I have a sore tummy'
'I can't sleep'
'There's a monster in my room'
And Miss Two's favourite.......'WAAAAAAAAH!"

And they time it perfectly. Just as my mind begins to wander, my eyes start to flicker shut and I begin to disappear into a warm, safe and fuzzy world..

Only to be jerked back into the harsh reality of my life. The life of a Mother who's children do not sleep.

I secretly want to crawl deeper into my bed and ignore them. Or tell them to 'bugger off' but I always get up, deal with the problem, tuck them back into their beds and kiss them goodnight.
'I love you darling', I say.
'Now bloody well go to sleep'