Why is it

that on nights when you know you need to be up early in the morning the kids seem more unsettled? Is it because they want to see you under pressure and see how well you hold up? Or perhaps they sense that you are either anxious, or worried that you won't sleep, and all these emotions rub off on them. I am a bit of a believer in kids feeding off your mood. Much as I believe that it doesn't stop me losing my cool every now and then. It's those times you then need to just walk away, let the kid cry for a couple of minutes, while you breathe, distance yourself, lose the angst, walk back in and start over.

I did manage to get just under an hour's sleep last night, so I guess it could have been worse. It could have been no sleep. All it means is that today I am ferreting around in the fridge and traipsing a path back and forth between the sofa and the kettle. I seem to eat more when I'm exhausted. It isn't that I'm hungry, it is more that I need to be doing something (preferably something that requires little to no brain power) but a something that is sufficient to keep me awake. Eating works well because your body will rarely let you munch on a dry biscuit then fall into deep sleep halfway through. See? Logical isn't it? Bet you wonder why you didn't think of that.

The whole brain dead kind of vegetative state I find myself in today is not terrifically conducive to anything productive. I Have three essays due, that I really need to get stuck into, however I fear today is not the day to have that occur, lest I wish to read them tomorrow to find that instead of writing an indepth analysis of human rights and their relationship to anti-terrorism laws I have written my shopping list, with a reference to Kofi Annan, or some double double name like Boutros Boutros. Writing in a state of unsleep is quite interesting. For poetry. Or novels. Not so much for legal essays.

Maybe I should write a poem........ I think it would start something like this......

Eyelids falling like overripe fruit from a tree
Is there any coke in the fridge, or perhaps red bull?
Thank heavens for leftover Noodle Box for I shall not cook tonight.
What time does Play School start?

So you see, the genius, it just flows. Amazing what the brain can do without any sleep. And tomorrow I'll read this and say some form of what the hell is that and then go on as if today never happened.

Better go my coffee is getting cold, and my cheese and crackers are being eyed off by middle daughter so i had better scoff them before she makes it to the plate......