Friday, October 10, 2008

Professor Play & the Sandman

by zombimom.com
7 Oct 2008

There are different ideas about taking care of babies
The big fashion now is ‘low stimulation’
Darkened rooms away from the noise of life
Startling arms swaddled tight against the jerks of life
10 minutes of Mozart for stimulation once a day

Christo doesn’t think much of this
He belongs to the school of 'don't walk on eggshells'
A world of noise and light and people and toys and bangs

Last week I had a blissful day when Tim put himself to sleep time and again
I was high on freedom
This sterling achievement was the fruit of a low stimulation diet

But Christo wasn’t having any of it
He complained he hardly saw Tim anymore, he was always sleeping
He wanted to play with monkey mobiles and funny noises

Zombimom cried No, once he starts jolling he doesn’t stop
(... and I’m the one that has to get up in the night)

But a few days later I felt the tug of loss too
I was the sleep-machine, the sandman
And Tim was being swallowed up by drowsiness

So we’re aiming for the happy medium now
Christo has learnt that Tim does startle when you bang plates around
And I've learnt that a startle is just a startle
Tim soon settles down again
Absorbing the surprise

He sleeps in the lounge during the day
Golden light streams in through the windows
A steady stream of music infuses the air around him
Electro, funk, soul, rap, house, jazz, alt country, folk, dub, contemporary classic
When he’s a bit older we’ll progress to punk and Japanese noise bands

As for me
Sleep deprivation takes its toll
The light at the end of the tunnel is the light of an oncoming train
So sleep is a big thing in our lives
But loneliness also takes its toll
We need to reignite our love every day for the good energy to flow
The good energy that shakes the night before off

So I'm learning to cool off on the sleep police
Relax and play
Funny-sad it didn’t come naturally

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