Last night was lots of fun. Really...that's not sarcasm. The kids watched a couple shows on Noggin while eating dinner; they both ate very well. Then, after dinner was over, I turned the TV off and we went outside to enjoy the evening. They played quietly and happily in the sandbox for nearly an hour while I lounged in the hammock watching them.
After a while, Kiddo started getting upset - visibly upset - to a point where he was holding his hands up, shaking and crying. Immediately, I was at his side asking him what was wrong. Little Bit seemed oblivious. He'd gotten sand in his eye and he was trying to blink it out, but knew he couldn't touch his eyes with his sandy hands because that would make it worse. This is why he was holding his hands up and shaking. I told him to keep crying because the tears would help, all the while leading him by one sandy hand over to the garden hose.
I turned the water on to a soft flow (the water in the hose was warm from sitting in the sun all day), tipped him backwards over my arm so his head was nearly level with the ground, and
proceeded to flush his eyes out. He knew what was coming, blinked furiously and stuttered a bit as the shock of slightly warm water hit his eyes, but he didn't complain. At first, the water scared him a bit and he was upset with me because his shirt got wet. After I asked him if his eyes felt better, ("Hey! Yeah! They do!" says he.) he made some more half-hearted noise about his clothes being wet. So I turned the hose on him again and soaked him good! He laughed heartily, screeched, and darted away.
At this point, Little Bit, having noticed the water, came over saying, "Wet! Wet!" So I turned the hose on her, too! She screeched, too, and then both kids were scurrying away, laughing. They came back for more, time and time again, getting completely soaked from head to toe - completely clothed.
I decided that it might be fun for them to run naked for a little while, so I instructed Kiddo to strip and got Little Bit undressed, too. Then, I plugged the still-running hose into the inflatable frog pool sprinkler attachment and they played, happily naked, in the back yard for about 20 minutes. I figured, who cares if they're naked! They're both very young and no one was around to care. They splashed and screamed and had a wonderful time.
At this point, Hubby had come home from work, to see both of his kids running, unclothed, in the backyard. He made some backhanded comment about trailer parks (sorry if this offends anyone) and then I asked him to get a couple towels for the kids. When he came back out with the towels, I instructed him to go run a warm bath for them, which he did.
After wrapping Kiddo in a towel, and chasing Little Bit down - who was running, naked, for the house after her Daddy - I plunked them both in the tub and scrubbed them head to toe. They had fun playing in the bubbles (Daddy ran a bubble bath) and Little Bit spent a happy five minutes dumping water over her big brother's head. They both thought this was
hilarious.
Bath done, hair dried, teeth brushed,
jammies on and both kids
climbed into Kiddo's bed to snuggle for a few minutes. Little Bit kept saying, "Night-night!" and pretending to be asleep on Kiddo's pillow. It was very cute. They snuggled together while I got Little Bit's bottle ready and then, as I came back down the hall, Little Bit was headed for her room, in her little pink
jammies, saying, "Night-night!" - ready for bed. By the time I got to her room, she was standing in front of her crib, holding on to the bars, looking at me in a slightly desperate way with very tired eyes.
I got her into bed, covered her up, told her I loved her and closed the door. I didn't hear from her again until this morning. Kiddo went to sleep relatively easily and he, also, slept all night. I, however, had a very disturbing night plagued with horrendous dreams and was awake, though still in bed, long before my alarm clock went off.
At 5:30, when my alarm finally sounded, I got out of bed, dressed, and headed to work early. It was just that simple. I knew if I stayed at home, the temptation to try to sleep another hour or so would be too overwhelming and then I'd be late and have to rush - I didn't even sit down on the couch. I just grabbed two Coke Zeros and headed for the door.
The drive to work was dark, bleak and wet - it having rained quite a bit during the night - and when I arrived, it was almost overwhelmingly quiet. I like it, though, when I can get here early because I seem to be able to get more done where there aren't fifteen people at my desk asking me to make schedule changes, travel arrangements, or appointments.
Anyway - I'm hoping to be able to leave early today, though I have no thoughts on if that will actually happen. I guess I should go now and make my rounds. Our Facility Coordinator
extraordinaire is on vacation until tomorrow, so I'm running his inter-office rounds for him.
OK - I guess I've typed enough for one morning. Hope everyone has a nice day!
TTFN
JMS
TITLE: Beggars in Spain
AUTHOR: Nancy Kress
COPYWRITE: 1993
The year is 2008 when overbearing business-man Roger Camden and his meek wife, Elizabeth visit Dr. Ong, seeking only the best genetic modifications available for the child they plan to have: A daughter, blonde, green eyes, tall, a genetic disposition to be slender and musical, the full array of corrections for any potential gene-lined health problems, and...no need to sleep.
Leisha Camden and her non-genetically modified twin sister, Alice are born shortly thereafter into a world where even the smallest edge can mean the difference between success and failure. Having no need to sleep, Leisha has 30 percent more time to work and study – though, it seems, all the “Sleepless” are highly intelligent, successful, and in absolutely perfect health.
Initially, the Sleepless are an interesting minority, but after a while, their unparalleled success in all aspects of life begin to wear on normal, or “Sleeper” society and eventually, they become victims of blind hatred, repression, and horrendous violence which drives them, and their children, to escape Earth to an orbiting space station.
Leisha chooses to stay behind, along with a few other Sleepless, in an attempt to promote acceptance for Sleeper and Sleepless alike. But, her battles are only just beginning.
This book is superbly written, thought provoking, and slightly scary – as you realize how close we are, in reality, to the idea of genetic modification and the ramifications of the need for no sleep. The battles waged in this book are societal, psychiatric, intelligent, and not too far off the mark of what could happen to Earth’s fragile human balance of minority vs. majority.
****1/2 for originality, excellent writing, and provocative ideas.
