Peace & Quiet

My girls TALK. I mean they really, talk and talk and talk and talk and TALK. All day long. If they are awake, they are talking. Sometimes they even talk in their sleep. Friday night I was at the end of my rope with all the talk. I couldn't take it.

I was driving home from picking Spice up from Saint Aunt and between them, Sugar and Spice where making sure there was a constant stream of words. Finally I couldn't take it anymore and insisted that Sugar had to be quiet. She was annoyingly unhappy about this and kept looking for excuses to talk to me. Finally I got mean and she quieted down some - but not completely. It was crazy. She kept trying to push the limits, kept sneaking in a sound here and there, she even cried about it. It was just sheer torture to her to be quiet. And sheer torture for me to keep listening to her. We were both ecstatic when I decided to call the Bull and ask him to come get the girls and bring them inside while I looked for a parking space.

I was thrilled to drive around looking for a space for another 20 minutes, just to have the quiet time to myself. (Though I wasn't too thrilled to finally realize I wasn't going to find a space and end up parking in the lot)

And really, quiet time alone is the one thing I treasure above all else. I'm an introvert who seriously craves solitude. Though I enjoy contact with others, it tires me. I start yawning and getting sleepy and heavy-eyed after a few hours of being around people. I need time alone to recharge.

The problem is that the ONLY time I can get time alone is at late at night when I should be sleeping. And that just isn't working. I'm staying up trying to get time alone to recharge, which is making me miss sleep, which of course, is making me tired. I need time alone and time to sleep.

And I just need quiet. Why do my girls TALK so MUCH? Other people's children don't seem to chatter on and on and on. In fact, yesterday we were in the car with one of Sugar's classmates, Abby Cadabby and her little brother, Elmo. After a long day filled with classes (Sugar & Abby take dance, theater and gymnastics together on Saturday - and Sugar starts the day with tennis) Abby was dozing off in the back of the car. Sugar however, was just chatting up poor Elmo, who finally couldn't take it anymore, "Can you be quiet?" he said, "You really talk too much." It took everything in me to not start laughing hysterically. Sometimes I think I'm just being a grumpy old mommy when I complain about her talking too much. So it just made my day for a 5 year old to tell her she needs to stop talking.

I think I have to come up with some productive ways for Sugar and Spice to get to ramble to their hearts content while I get some quiet. I'm looking forward to daylight savings time kicking in - then it will be light in the morning and I can go out for a walk to start my day - which will give me quiet alone time while the kids are sleeping. Maybe that will fortify me for a day filled with my chatty girls.