Superman, Meet Supernanny. Please.

I'm not sure what's messed me up so badly this week - the time zone debacle or the fact that my morning wake-up routine seems to be inevitably linked to the wake-up schedule of the kid upstairs.

My three days of travel killed me. I wasn't able to sleep more than three hours a night the whole time. This happens a lot though, since traveling is a part of my career and has pretty much been my life for the last six years now.

When I'm out of sync for a few days, I always expect an adjustment period. Here's how it usually goes:

I travel east.
I don't sleep.
I come home and sleep for about 12 hours that day.
I'm back to normal.
Well, my normal anyway.

This time? Here's how it's gone:

I travel east.
I don't sleep.
I come home and sleep for about five hours.
Superman wakes up and starts bouncing his basketball over my head.
I wake up.
Superman throws stuff and yells.
I stay awake.
Superman's mother yells back.
Superman's grandma starts singing, loudly, in French.
I'm still awake, cringing when I look at the clock.
About an hour passes, more of the same.
Superman and the whole crew "fly" down the rickety (loud) wooden stairs right outside my bedroom window, yelling to each other the whole time.
I'm still awake.
They stand in front of my bedroom window, expressing their amazement that he's faster than a speeding bullet, so all the neighbors know they have a Super Hero in their midst.
Finally, they fly away to save the day.
I fall back asleep within about 15 minutes, and sleep for another hour or two.
I wake up in a panic, still totally exhausted from the interrupted sleep and already starting my day much later than I'd hoped.

Repeat. Every. Single. Day.

My body has not had the chance to catch back up. Instead of waking up around 9 or 10am and being sharp enough to really do serious work by 1 or 2pm, I'm waking up around 11 or 12 and not being able to focus until at least 4pm. Which is when my colleagues are just finishing up their day - or have already gone home.

I'm hoping that the weekend will give me a chance to make up my sleep deficit and at least get back to a schedule that's only a few hours off the norm.

And will somebody upstairs please call Supernanny?? Please. You need help. Really.