With both children now in school, Kenzie in Pre-K and Kaleb in Kindergarten, their new schedule includes less sleep than they are used to getting.

And it affects their behavior! It affects my behavior!

They leave the house in the morning as Dr. Jekyll and when they get home in the evening they’ve transmogrified into Mr. and Ms. Hyde!

They go to school as Kaleb and Kenzie and they come home as Gripey and Grouchy!

I drop off sweet, happy, fun-loving children at school and when they come home after school they have mutated into horrid little monsters.

What happened at school to cause this malicious metamorphosis? What potion did they drink? What pill did they take?

What happened at school to cause this terrible transformation?

I suppose the question I should really ask is,”What didn’t happen at school?”

THEY DIDN’T TAKE A NAP!

They need a nap to keep the monsters away! I need for them to take a nap to keep the monsters away!

But school has started and the monsters are back!

This summer they took a nap at daycare most days and always at home on the weekends

Now that school has started, they only lay down for a rest. But they don’t fall asleep during their rest time at school (or fight to keep themselves awake during rest time as their teachers inform me).

So, we try to make up for some lost sleep by going to bed earlier and taking long naps on the weekend.

But, when they go to bed earlier at night, they just wake up earlier in the morning.

And the weekend naps don’t seem to carry forward into the weekdays. And the monsters return before the week is over!

I hope they will eventually adjust to sleeping less now that they’re school-age. I hope I will adjust to them sleeping less now that they’re school-age!

Meanwhile, we will keep trying to keep the monsters at bay…