Confessions of a Night Owl

I haven't written a good kid related blog post since Confessions of a Meat Hoarder, so here goes.  My precious child, has not missed a day of school since 3rd maybe even 2nd grade.  He's never sick, and if he is it's usually the sniffles, and can still go to school.  He's had perfect attendance for many years now. 

Today I wasn't scheduled to work until 1pm.  So I could sleep in.  Which I intended to do so.  Until I recieved a frantic phone call from one of Perry's teachers.  Perry had fallen out of his chair and layed on the floor and would not get up.  Sounds super scary.  I attempted not to panic, I said is he ok?  She wasn't sure as it wasn't in her class it was his other teachers class, she was going to head to the nurses office and see if he was ok.  She was going to call me back.  It was 7:30 am, not my favorite hour of the day.  So I got up, still not panicing, although slightly concerned.  Went into Perry's room to investigate, found his ipod and his iphone under his pillow.  These are the items that are suppose to be given up each night when he goes to bed.  I did not follow through the night before (parenting 101-fail) so therefor, no policing happened and I'm certain his illness is called SLEEP DEPRIVATION.  Wasn't certain of the diagnosis, until I went to the school and picked him up.  The school nurse called and said he was definately out of it.  So I went and got him, was greeted by his super concerned teacher.  Perry is well loved and his behavior is very predictable.  He is funny, very polite and well mannered and never gets in trouble.  So for him to just fall out of his chair and not respond was a bit concerning.  My diagnosis was spot on, the boy was exhausted, because he had not slept.  He came home and slept for 3 more hours.  His lack of sleep had truly made him sick.  He got up to the ultimate punishment, you could tell he was very tired, so he was forced to shop with me, with no ipod or phone, and guess what they are on lock down for an undetermined amount of time. 

This is his phone and his ipod both in there lockdown prison, AKA my dresser drawer.  Someone will be going to bed super early tonight.  I think I'll let the public decide.  How long should I leave these precious items in their prison?  Keep in mind he does not need his phone to communicate, we still have the house phone and he is not social so he is never without one of us.  He did however attempt to plead his case to get his phone back.  He said I sure hope I'm not lost somewhere without my phone.  I asked, where will you be lost?  He said the forest.......Ha Ha...cuz we here in the suburbs are surrounded by "the forest" that he is forever getting lost in. 

Perry being an only child he gets away with more than the average child, because I have nothing to compare it to, it's learn as you go parenting.  Funny todays Fairfield Middle School announcements email included an attachment warning about the risks of insufficient sleep.  I'm pretty sure they sent that right after I left the building.