Proof He DOES Sleep

For everyone who wonders if Rakes EVER throttles down, I finally have photographic evidence; this picture was taken today during nap time.

Since we realized about 2 months ago that napping during the day meant Rakes took 2 hours to finally sleep at night, we'd reached a compromise; while Trot sleeps, Rakes could stay awake as long as he remained in his room. He could read books, play, whatever; just NO coming out of the room unless it was an emergency.

Today, he emerged from his lair on the verge of crying, grabbing himself and hollering "I gotta go to the bafroom". I unlocked the door (Yes, we lock the bathroom doors. Trot is fascinated with the toilet, and we've got pennies stashed all around the house to unlock the doors; Rakes just isn't tall enough to reach them.) and went back to the computer. About 15 minutes later I can hear really loud breathing a ways behind me, and as I turn around I can see his bedroom door open with the light on.

Also apparent is that the bathroom light is still on which means Rakes didn't close the door. I get up, turn the corner, and see the picture I used for this post. After getting Ciera so she could see, I grabbed the camera and snapped the picture thinking "I've got my blog idea for tonight."

A few things that don't jump out to the naked eye; there was a couple of towels laying outside the door, neatly folded and ready to be put away. Rakes thoughtfully stepped over them and THEN laid down. Second, see the swim shoe sort of half-way hanging off his foot on the right? Somewhere in his little mind he'd decided he needed to put on his pool shoes for quiet time. As for why, your guess is as good as mine. Third, the fingers on his right hand were twitching JUST like Coco Crisps do when he's in the batters box waiting on the pitcher to come to the plate.

Unanswered as of right now is whether he had fallen asleep BEFORE going to the bathroom and why he decided he couldn't go another 2 feet to his bedroom door before laying down.

Personally, I think it's proof that the way a man thinks isn't finalized when he gets older; it's ingrained in us from an early age. Rakes didn't want to fall asleep but he was exhausted, so instead of showing "weakness" by getting in his bed, he just laid down on the floor to "rest his eyes". Which is EXACTLY what I tell myself when the Red Sox are on a West Coast swing, it's 1:30 in the morning and I'm wiped. Instead of going to bed like a normal person, I sit down on the couch and when a commercial break happens I tell myself I'm just gonna relax for a minute. Next thing I know an inning and a half has gone by and I'm jolted awake by the latest Sullivan Tire cheese fest.

This may be the first picture I've ever taken of Rakes while he's asleep. If you're a regular visitor here, you've seen a ton of shots of him in action, but you've never seen what I see right before I head to bed. My little hellion, who has hollered, yelled, thrown things, knocked his brother down, and antagonized his sister for the entire day looking like the sweet, innocent child he really is.

Now you know why I've never had to be institutionalized.

Seeing him like this makes all the other stuff just disappear.