You’re not going to believe this, but after not knowing what was going to happen on our first red-eye trip with our two-year-old, pulling an all nighter was not one of the outcomes we were expecting. That’s right folks, our two-year-old literally did not sleep one freaking wink on our flight out to New York. Pretty amazing, actually. He wasn’t even really in a bad mood either. He did, however, fall asleep in the cab ride from the airport to the hotel. He also fell asleep for thirty minutes on our airplane ride home.
What I’m wondering about all this is whether stubbornness is a trait that is learned or genetic? Because I’ll tell you what, I think it was stubbornness that kept him awake. I think secretly he was saying in his head “I will not go to sleep. I will not go to sleep. I will not go to sleep” over and over again. The fact that we kept trying to help him fall asleep just made him not want to more.
The reason I’m questioning the origins of stubbornness is because August has two parents that are quite stubborn. Of course, I’m kind of kidding when I say that maybe it’s genetic, but seriously he was reminding me of Brent that trip. Brent almost every night, although truth be told he’s gotten much better at this, says, “I’m not tired. I’m going to stay up a little longer.” If I then go to bed and get up say ten minutes later for a glass of water, he’s already asleep on the couch. It never fails.
So when August was sitting there on that airplane incessantly rubbing his eyes and saying “I’m not tired. I don’t want to rest.” All I could think about was Brent asleep on the couch.
That all being said, August really is a trooper. I mean really, an all nighter, a three-hour time difference, two airplane rides, a city that’s not his home, and a time change all within four days. That’s a lot even for me to handle.
