Tuesday, April 12, 2011
pics from the jungle party
Friday, April 1, 2011
musical beds
I used to sleep like a rock... people that spent any time around me knew that when I put my head down on a pillow it was a done deal for the next 8hrs. Then we had a child.
I am pretty sure most parents relate when I say I don't get a great night's sleep, but since we have moved things have changed, we used to sleep okay, a bit of night time bustle, but now my nights have become part parenting, adventure race and musical chairs.. The AVERAGE night now consists of what my wife affectionately calls my "sleeping around".
Let's take last night for example....this may sound s bit crazy but this has become, much to my dismay, "average"; I laid down with Autumn (1) as she was going to bed, my head hit the pillow after a long day and I promptly fell asleep. A few hours later Amy needed my help so I am up, and we go to sleep in the same bed (the third time in weeks)- oh no, don't let those lids drop too long there fella- not so fast, about an hour later Audrey(2) needs help as only a two year old can while going potty. I get her back to bed and fall asleep on a pile of blankets on the floor next to her only to be awakened by my hip in an hour that didn't like sleeping on cement. I get up, return to bed only to have Ava(5) wake up with a bad dream so I go to comfort her and realize that Amy has already left our bed to join Autumn(1) who had awakened sometime during my cement slab cat nap. Ava(5) and I lay down together and promptly fall asleep- only to be awakened at 4:30 by Audrey(2) who is up and excited to get dressed and pack her backpack with snacks for school. Despite all of my efforts to change her mind she decides that her day has begun, and so has mine. Autumn joins us at 5am and Ava is up at 5:30.
I failed to discuss as of yet Tico(Costarican) life in this regard. So local time for getting up IS 5am, as the bustle of motos, fourwheelers and trucks begin in town. Somehow this early awakening time has no bearing on the time businesses begin operating, which is 9 and you get incredulous looks if you try to get a hold of people there before the opening hour, as if "what? it's way too early to (fill-in the blank: expect to get directions, find an internet cafe, a bathroom....). Tico schools begin at 6am, pretty smart as things get pretty warm by 8:30 along the coast where I doubt the schools have AC, and a 6am start allows kids to be done with school by around noon or 1pm when the world has become a baking steam sauna.
The costal temperatures are much warmer than even a few miles inland, a heavy price you pay for quick beach access and I believe a poor trade off since the beach comes with baggage like more mosquitoes, higher prices and more traffic. On the Osa, the southern Pacific peninsula where we live and known as "where the rain forest meets the sea", the jungle mountains rise quickly from the beach areas and give way to a dream-like cloud forest that is only really beheld in person as clouds actively envelope you and sweep through jungle and extremely steep hillsides with an average temperature of 68 degrees. It's dream like conditions and BEAUTIFUL farms and jungles are loaded with wildlife.
Gotta run, it's 1:30am and I am off to tuck in a little one and go to sleep in the third bed for the night... I will barely have time to fit in a fourth bed this time... though I wouldn't trade putting the little ones down for any possession or position in the world. sweet dreams....
I am pretty sure most parents relate when I say I don't get a great night's sleep, but since we have moved things have changed, we used to sleep okay, a bit of night time bustle, but now my nights have become part parenting, adventure race and musical chairs.. The AVERAGE night now consists of what my wife affectionately calls my "sleeping around".
Let's take last night for example....this may sound s bit crazy but this has become, much to my dismay, "average"; I laid down with Autumn (1) as she was going to bed, my head hit the pillow after a long day and I promptly fell asleep. A few hours later Amy needed my help so I am up, and we go to sleep in the same bed (the third time in weeks)- oh no, don't let those lids drop too long there fella- not so fast, about an hour later Audrey(2) needs help as only a two year old can while going potty. I get her back to bed and fall asleep on a pile of blankets on the floor next to her only to be awakened by my hip in an hour that didn't like sleeping on cement. I get up, return to bed only to have Ava(5) wake up with a bad dream so I go to comfort her and realize that Amy has already left our bed to join Autumn(1) who had awakened sometime during my cement slab cat nap. Ava(5) and I lay down together and promptly fall asleep- only to be awakened at 4:30 by Audrey(2) who is up and excited to get dressed and pack her backpack with snacks for school. Despite all of my efforts to change her mind she decides that her day has begun, and so has mine. Autumn joins us at 5am and Ava is up at 5:30.
I failed to discuss as of yet Tico(Costarican) life in this regard. So local time for getting up IS 5am, as the bustle of motos, fourwheelers and trucks begin in town. Somehow this early awakening time has no bearing on the time businesses begin operating, which is 9 and you get incredulous looks if you try to get a hold of people there before the opening hour, as if "what? it's way too early to (fill-in the blank: expect to get directions, find an internet cafe, a bathroom....). Tico schools begin at 6am, pretty smart as things get pretty warm by 8:30 along the coast where I doubt the schools have AC, and a 6am start allows kids to be done with school by around noon or 1pm when the world has become a baking steam sauna.
The costal temperatures are much warmer than even a few miles inland, a heavy price you pay for quick beach access and I believe a poor trade off since the beach comes with baggage like more mosquitoes, higher prices and more traffic. On the Osa, the southern Pacific peninsula where we live and known as "where the rain forest meets the sea", the jungle mountains rise quickly from the beach areas and give way to a dream-like cloud forest that is only really beheld in person as clouds actively envelope you and sweep through jungle and extremely steep hillsides with an average temperature of 68 degrees. It's dream like conditions and BEAUTIFUL farms and jungles are loaded with wildlife.
Gotta run, it's 1:30am and I am off to tuck in a little one and go to sleep in the third bed for the night... I will barely have time to fit in a fourth bed this time... though I wouldn't trade putting the little ones down for any possession or position in the world. sweet dreams....
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