Never drink a litre of coke before bed

I discovered last night that it's not a good idea to drink over a litre of coke before bed. The consequences of my actions resulted in me not sleeping until nearly 6am, only to wake from a nightmare 2 hours later. In it I was lying on the couch only to have a huge black spider crawl over the back of my head. I could see 2 of it's legs waving over either side of my forehead. I woke myself up yelling and that's something I never do in dreams. I blame the coke. I keep forgetting about the caffeine in coke otherwise I would have been more moderate in it's consumption. I've very sensitive to caffeine and am usually careful about how late in the evening I drink it.

Very smoky here in Melbourne today. I'm struggling with the smoke a bit - I'm a bit snuffly and headachy even staying inside. Going out is unpleasant because it makes me cough and wheeze. Usually I don't have any problems with my asthma which is so mild it's practically not existant, but I'm struggling in the smoke. I haven't even used an inhaler in ages and I really don't want to have to find a doctor to get a new prescription. I feel bad even complaining because in the scheme of things it's really minor. It's only a mild discomfort compared to those in the fire ravaged areas. Not to mention the poor animal babies that have been separated from their mothers.

Mum rang tonight. My niece got a really good school report. She's has a reading age of 9 and is doing really well in all areas. She turns 7 in April. We've never had any problems reading in my family. Right from when we were tiny Mum bought us books. We've grown up surrounded by books and watched Mum read for pleasure. I don't know how many times I would be told to turn out the light only to drag out my book and read until it was impossible to see any longer in the fading light. Perfect in summer when it doesn't get dark in the lower part of the South Island until after 10pm. My sister reads a bit, not deep literature but again my nieces and nephews see the positive example of someone reading for pleasure. Their dad reads as well. I used to nanny for a family that didn't have books. The school-aged child had problems with her reading. She didn't like reading. I don't know if there are studies out there, but I just wonder if it makes a difference? It never surprised us that Natalia would be so good at reading. She loves books. Alex is more of a maths brain. There was a day a couple of months ago when Natalia brought home her maths homework. She couldn't do it but Alex could. Alex is 5 in March. He's always been good at doing puzzles. Dominic is also very analytical. He's a real Houdini. He was able to work out how to get the kiddy gate open before he was a year old. My uncle had to add extra bits to stop him. He goes in for grommets tomorrow. My sister is having another boy. At least I know what I'll be shopping for. Mum's hoping they're not set on the name that's been mention - Tristram. Mum said her first thought was that it's the name of an upper-class fairy, mine was that Sir Tristram was the name of a racehorse. We'll love him no matter what his name is. :)