Last week I went away with my children on a three day vacation.  I threw in the “with my children” lest you think I returned home all refreshed and well-rested.  Vacationing with children is hard work.

I had chosen the particular hotel I did because it had free broadband in the rooms.  I figured there would be no late night partying and that while the kids were in bed sleeping, or at least enjoying the novelty that is watching television from bed, I could work.

I forgot that I have a 2.5 year old who shuns sleep.  Sleep, ha!  He laughs at sleep.  That is for wimps, the infirm, and those they do not have doors to open and slam repeatedly.   With no cage crib to restrain him it was a free for all.

And so at 10:00pm when my other child roommates were happily laying in bed, in their pj’s, enjoying the Disney channel, my 2.5 year old was bouncing on the bed, running in between the beds, and making breathy phone calls to other hotel guests.

I did little more than download my photos to my hard drive when I realized that my grand plans would have to be re-evaluated before a) I went hoarse from my incessant shushing, or b) we got thrown out of the hotel for unruly toddler behavior.

I shut my laptop.  Turned off the lights.  And restrained  snuggled him until he stopped resisting and fell asleep.  By then I was exhausted and decided that I would get up early to work.

I am sure you already know how that went.  The tap tap tapping of my keyboard was too noisy for him.  And at 6:00am he was raring to go.

Of course he would later nap for over three hours in a stroller while we strolled through downtown Boston, people shouting, horns honking, the stroller bumping along the sidewalk– none of that hampered his sleep.

They call it the terrible twos for a reason.