Dorcas the Physical Therapist looked a little concerned this morning.

“Do you notice,” she asked, “that Sophie complains a lot about being tired?”

I rolled my eyes. Yes, I told her. That’s Sophie’s latest “thing” — she loves to have an easy, go-to topic of conversation. Recent comments/questions (made/asked several times in the span of a few minutes, sometimes) include: “You’re mean!” “Who’s picking me up from school today?”
“Where is Daddy?” “Where is Mommy?” “Where is Annabelle?”

And “I’m tired.”

Dorcas is concerned that Sophie complains of being tired first thing in the morning. Is she going to bed early enough? she asked. A legitimate question. No. She never goes to bed early enough. I worry that an 8 pm bedtime is too late as it is; last night it was more like 8:30, I have to admit. (Sadly, that’s not unusual.)

And she never sleeps late enough; I know that for certain now that she shows up in my room before the crack of dawn.

So is something wrong? I hadn’t thought so, not til Dorcas said something. Maybe. Maybe Sophie’s a bad sleeper. Maybe her bedtime should be earlier. Maybe we have her overprogrammed. (Full time kindergarten plus 5 hour-long therapy sessions a week, plus a busy life.)

Maybe. I worried all the way to school, and when I saw Ms. X, I immediately asked her – ignoring the fact that she has twentysomething other kindergarteners to attend to in the morning.

Ms. X smiled gently. Yes, she said, Sophie complains of being tired — a lot. But never when she actually is tired. Ms. X can tell: droopy eyes, open mouth. She agrees: Sophie is making conversation! Or she’s trying to avoid something she doesn’t want to do — like recess on a warm day. 

Don’t worry about it, she said.

Easier said than done. I bet Ms. X will think about it more than once today. I know I will.

And here I was going to write about something light today — spring fashions. I’ll save that.