(This is Sam and Noah at Hershey’s Chocolate World 3D show earlier this year. Don’t they look so sweet and well-rested?)

Dear Samantha and Noah,

Hi. It’s Mommy. You guys know I love you more than anything in the whole world, right? Good.

But we’ve gotta talk.
Why — why, why, why, WHY – do you both refuse to stay asleep?

Earlier today, I talked with a friend at work who is also a mommy, and we agreed that we would love it if someone gave us a bath every night, helped us brush our teeth, read us a few stories, tucked us in, got us every stuffed animal we could think of, turned off the lights, and left us alone in our beds for 10 hours.

But neither of you seems to like this. In fact, you fight me at every one of those steps every single night.

Sleep is great. Sleep is awesome. In a few decades, you will appreciate every minute of sleep you can get because you’ll either be working or taking care of kids, or both.

You know you feel better during the day when you’ve slept well the night before. You know that Mommy is much less grumpy — and, if you hadn’t gotten that stubborn streak from Mommy AND Daddy, you’d admit that you are too — when you’ve slept well the before.

So why is it, then, that you feel you (coughSAMcough) have to come to me in the middle of the night and tell me all about the life stages of insects and at what stage they grow hair? Or that you (coughNOAHcough) must crawl into my bed and then slam your head into my forehead and nose repeatedly as you toss and turn and toss and toss and turn and toss and turn?

Let’s all stay in our respective beds tonight, k? Could we try that? Please? Before I fall asleep while driving and crash?

Thanks, munchkins. Love you guys.

Love,
Mommy