Jekyll & Hyde

I think I've just about given up on making Mom stay in bed at night.

We had a long conversation last night about her insomnia and how she gets up like clock-work almost every night, several times, and then sleeps until noon or later. (The recent exception was the night before her eye doctor appointment. She gets so nervous about oversleeping and missing the appointments that she actually stays in her room.) The problem is, she never remembers doing any of it even though the full ritual consists not just of getting up and dressed but actually making her bed before coming out. She also denies cursing me out when I tell her what time it really is which is the unnerving part: the personality differences between Daytime Mom (sweet, temperate, co-operative) and Nighttime Mom (stubborn, caustic, mean-tempered).

She promised to try better and to stay in her room. I told her to stay up until she was really tired instead of going to bed at "bed-time." She agreed and then went straight to bed. An hour and a half later she was out again, and a half hour after that and another half hour after that. She had no recollection of our conversation. She had no recollection of being out just thirty minutes ago. So I gave up. Told her to sit as long as she wanted. She was there on the couch when I went to bed and still there at 2:30 in the morning when my brother came home.

She did get up reasonably on time this morning in spite of everything, so I made pancakes. She doesn't remember a thing.