Nighty Night

Sigh...It seems like only a few bedtime kisses ago we used to all curl up on the couch and watch a Baby Einstein video, change a few diapers, read Goodnight Moon and Tumble Bumble and send the kids off to sweet dreams.

The tv now holds "just one more Mario Kart race" and while we are cleaning up the kitchen, preparing snacks for tomorrow's lunches and organizing backpacks and classroom folders, (oh wait that's all me........ ha ha Don, if you ever read this) we shout up the stairs "Rory get out of the tub" "Don't forget your teeeeeeeeeth!" "I WILL look for your library book" and so on..... the kids continue on their race towards independence. Once I get to the kids hallway, I usually hear all sorts of bleeps and tweets, and usually some high energy music playing. Certainly very different from carrying 3 sleepy babies upstairs, sitting quietly and tucking them into cribs and car beds. Tonight the scene was truly very typical of the kids as of late- lifestyle, personality and all. Delaney is almost always the last man standing. She is a stubborn little firecracker, and throughly enjoys anything that is "not for babies". She received a Nintendo DS for her birthday on 12/9 and plays it before bed. Rory has always been our best sleeper. She never has to be told twice to come cuddle, or just hang and relax. One funny story of her was when she was about 3 and we were at an interactive museum. Don went to sit on a bench and watch the kids, and she sat next to him, hands behind her head and said "AHH, this is the life!" Brady who has always been the organizer, spends more time on his collections then figuring out how to keep them somewhere neatly. Tonight when I went to tuck him in, he was all the way at the end of his bed, because he had knocked over a cup of water. He decided that instead of getting a towel and drying it off, he would remove his lamp from the area and lay the lamp on his bed. He then scooted down so that he could still lay down and use the lamp to read. I did manage to praise his smarts in not leaving the lamp near water, but we discussed the best option, which would have been drying the shelf, returning the lamp, and THEN continuing to read. He was blown away by my intelligence and thanked me profusely for this insight. We then curled on the couch and watched Baby Einstein followed by a reading of Tumble Bumble.....OR he grumbled, got out of bed reluctantly, dried the shelf and put his lamp back. You decide the ending, I am busy with very important things to do.... Tumble bumble up the stairs, open doors and check for bears.......
We continue to make wonderful nighttime memories~