sleep vs. no sleep

Oscar set a record last night, with close to six hours straight of uninterrupted sleep. It's the longest he's slept since we brought him home from the hospital. Most of the time he goes down for two-and-a-half or three hours at the most, and sometimes it can take hours to get him to do that. It's amazing how strong his will to stay awake is sometimes, especially for someone who can't see further than a foot in front of his face or move anywhere of his own accord. It makes you wonder exactly why he wants to stay up. It's not like he can really do much of anything, so why not take a nap? He acts as if he's got an appointment across town you're keeping him from attending. Sometimes I start off singing lullabies and telling him stories and find myself an hour later pacing the floor chanting something like, "Just go to sleep, why won't you sleep, please take a nap" over and over. I'm firmly in the pro-sleep camp now, but I can remember being a kid and fighting off sleep like it was leprosy. You don't know why, but for the first 20 years of your life all you want to do is stay up all night. Eventually you do get to stay up all night and you probably do it for a few years, because - let's face it - staying up all night is great. But sooner or later staying up all night leads you to realize that you want nothing more than to sleep as often as possible. Sleep wins. And just when you've surrendered to sleep, along comes this kid who wants to take up the battle again.

ガんばれ、オスカ-。