Midnight Walkabout

*yawn* Didn't get all that much sleep last night. The baby kept waking me up. At least I've gotten a brief taste of what it's like to be a parent.

Oh yeah, that's right. A toddler. Rambling Raoul that is. Charged with babysitting duties that night, I had him curled up in bed right after the primetime news - per his mother's orders. Since he didn't make a peep of protest ( much as his guerilla sister would ), I assumed he was fine with the proposed curfew.

At least that's what I hoped.


Secret rambles!
Thoroughly expecting to find him sound asleep by the time I crept up close to midnight, I found him doing the walkabout instead. Seems the lil fella likes to do most of his adventuresome ramblings in the wee hours of the morning. And though he doesn't articulate as well, it was clear from his expressive body language - and some babbled babytalk - that he would prefer to have a companion on his spiritual travels.

Paul : What are you muttering about in the night? Get to sleep, kid.
Raoul : Mr Boss, I want to walkabout. It's time for me to walkabout.
Paul : You're too young for a walkabout. Ae you holding a didgeridoo? Get to bed now!

Obviously he was already searching for the dreaming in his walkabout since he paid me no heed. Following in his ancestral songlines, he walked all over the bedroom to scratch at the door, tap on the window panes, tug at the sheets - all while maintaining an endless ( though entertaining ) string of garbled monologue. With all that chatter and noise, I was obviously not getting any sleep.

Certainly no stranger to the midnight walkabout with my bouts of insomnia. Unlike my brother ( and now Charming Calvin! ) who falls dead asleep the minute his head touches the pillow, I stay awake for hours wandering up and down the darkened hallways thinking increasingly confused thoughts.

Kids at 2 in the morning. What you gonna do?