It's not all just fun 'n games, you know...

Last night was not a good night.

Yesterday, Theresa and I went to see the Chargers get their butts kicked by the Miami Dolphins. Well, that's not really why we went... but that's what we saw. But the best part was that we got to hang out before the game with George and Lia and Linnea and Jeff and their friend Ken. We had arranged before hand to meet them and have a little tailgate party. When we arrived after everyone else (via San Diego Trolley, our usual mode of transport to the stadium), Jeff sensed our presence, and called us to tell us where to meet them (near the F2 light pole in the west parking lot). Jeff apparently is highly in tune with his sister's aura. (I prefer to think that, than to think that he is highly in tune with my aura). We enjoyed beer soaked brats, cheese weiners (don't ask), some snacks, iced beer and some type of premixed heavily alcoholic beverage that I chose to avoid. Anyway, it was way more fun than the game. It was Linnea's first ever professional football game. Didn't get a chance to talk to her after the game, so we'll have to wait til we see her again to get her impressions.

Oh, I almost forgot. Theresa, being a longtime season ticket holder, and something special in the Charger's eyes (and mine too, dear, mine too), was selected to participate in a DirectTV promotion. When we got to the game, we went to a little canopy, and were given a handheld DirectTV to view before, during, and after the game, if we so chose. We could watch all of the games that were going on, and we could pull up the stats of the games with the touch of a button. Very cool. In exchange, after the game Theresa filled out a short survey of the experience and they handed her a $25 gift certificate (which I'm sure she'll use to get her husband something nice for Christmas).

While at the game, the kids stayed home and were entertained by Miss Shelly from MGA, where the boys go to school. When we walked in the door after the game, it was as if all of the kids were on "speed". I don't really believe that Shelly is into drugging small children, so I will attribute their behaviour to being overtired. Shelly stated that no one had gone down for a nap. And it wasn't really all that late yet. I think slightly after five. So we talked about their day for a few minutes with Shelly and as soon as she left we fed the kids, changed them and they watched just a little tv to slow them down, and off to bed they went, earlier than usual. Normally they have been fighting going to bed lately, but they were worn out and drifted off within just a few minutes. Theresa was reading to Mattea, who was also going to bed early, and all of the kids were asleep by seven, which hasn't happened in I don't know how long.

So, Theresa and I went downstairs to watch a movie that we've had sitting around from Netflix for quite some time. It's one that I had put on our list, but we hadn't watched it after it arrived, as it was almost two and a half hours long. We rarely have that much time to give to just sitting and watching. So, in went "Kelly's Heros" (1970, Clint Eastwood, Donald Sutherland, Telly Savalas, Don Rickles war movie/comedy).

After awhile, over the mortar fire and grenade explosions, I thought that I heard one of the boys crying, so I ran up the stairs so that he wouldn't wake his brother. They were laying side by side, heads touching, both face down on the "green bed" with Noah screaming at the top of his lungs. Grayson was sound asleep. So I scooped Noah up and quickly carried him downstairs, still screaming at over 100dB into my right ear, his wide open mouth about an inch away from my tormented ear. Nothing that I could do would calm him down. He kept pushing himself away from me, and I thought he may have been saying, or trying to say, "Mommy", but through the hysterical screaming and crying, it was hard to tell. So I tried handing him to Theresa, and that was equally unsatisfying for him. He stretched his arms out as if reaching for someone, and arched his back, and generally wanted nothing to do with anything. So we just put him down on the couch and watched closely.

Meantime, Theresa had gone over to her laptop, which was sitting on the dining room table, and was checking out "night terrors" online. We had remembered that Mattea had a couple of similar episodes a few years ago. We learned that they can last anywhere from two minutes to forty minutes. There is no known cause, though they do tend to associate themselves with overtired children (of which all of our children were last night). And according to Babycenter.com, they are more terrifying for the parents than the children. Apparently, the children have no memory of them, and even though their eyes are open, they are not awake. After about twenty minutes or so, Noah started responding to Theresa's voice, and wanted a drink of water and stopped cying. I think he also said that he wanted a banana. So he got drink of water, but no banana, and we laid him down on the couch next to us, and as we watched our movie, he drifted off to sleep to the lullaby of more tank explosions and machinegun fire. Theresa soon joined him in slumberland, and I finished watching the movie, with Theresa waking up somewhere near the end. I scooped Noah up once again, this time sleeping peacefully, and lay him in his crib, and put Grayson in his as well. I'd like to stay that they stayed there all night, but we awoke with four of us in bed this morning. At least Theresa wasn't kicked out of her own bed.

Night terrors are not the things that you want your memories to include, so hopefully the researchers are correct, and we will remember them, but Noah will not. I asked the boys how they slept last night, and they both said "good", so maybe they are correct. One can only hope.