My daughter has been screaming her head off the last few weeks, and I am completely losing any cool I once had. I've said before that my kids have Irish names... Well, I'm changing hers. From now on, on these boards, I dub her Beanie. This is short for Bean Sidhe, or what folklore likes to call Banshee. It fits. She howls and makes a terrible racket.

Just tonight, I was just falling asleep, which is quite a feat all on its own. All of a sudden, I hear a banging noise. I didn't rush to get up because I already knew it was Beanie. So I open my door, and sure enough, she is screaming that she wants someone to sleep with her. WTF??? I've never let her sleep in my bed. In fact, neither of my kids really gets to. My son has once because his room was being renovated and had some strong chemicals, and then last week there were paint fumes, so I slept on the couch and let him have my bed. At least this time, her request made some sense. There have been nights when she pulls this because she didn't get to kiss the cat goodnight. No, we don't really do that either.

Now, before you think I'm an idiot, I realize what this is about. She is looking for reassurance, and a familiar person to keep her safe at a time when she feels alone. I can reassure her. For the last two nights I have waited until I am ready for bed, and then gone in, laid down with her for a few minutes, and helped her get ok with the nighttime. We talk about good things to dream about, and it's generally agreed that My Little Pony generates the best dreams. Ralph Fiennes does it for me, but My Little Pony would be a close second. This plan worked last night, but not tonight.

And why can't I just pitch a tent in the middle of the living room floor and we all pile in there, you ask?? Because the little beasts drool and talk in their sleep. Ok, even though it's true, that's not the reason why (and my son carries on full conversations in his sleep, which is funny, unless I have to be in the same room with him). I can't do it because they can have a sane, kind, loving mommmy during the day, or they can have a psychotic, frazzled, caffeine junkie of a mother around the clock. I only have so much sanity to go around, and I can't keep using it all up in the middle of the night.

So I sit here typing. Beanie is asleep. At least until the floorboards creak and wake her up. She can sleep through my testing the smoke alarm, but the second I get up from this computer to go to my room, she will begin howling again. I am really beginning to understand how a sleeping pill addiction could be attractive. (Yes, I know that was in poor taste. I'm sleep deprived. Cut me a break.)