Ugly Doll Play Dates

My boys love each other. I'll admit, sometimes they fight. Sometimes they just can't seem to pull it together and love each other. Sometimes the tattling gets out of control. I occasionally have to separate them to remind them how much nicer it is to be together than apart.

But they always beg to be let out of isolation to get back to each other. They are best buddies, whether they admit it or not.

One evidence of their love of each other and bond they share despite anything that may have happened between them is how excited they are to share a bedroom and bunkbeds. Even years after they began sharing a room, they still get a kick out of it. Every night, after lights are out and mom and dad have said goodnight, they invent fun together. They just can't seem to get enough of silliness and fun at this time.

One of their favorite after bedtime games is called "Ugly Doll Play Date." If you are not familiar with Ugly Dolls, they are simply monster stuffed animals and my boys love them. They each have a few of them. They love to gather them up at night, climb up into the top bunk, and set up some sort of organized play date. I never stick around to find out exactly what goes on in these play dates, but I come in to break it up at some point and they are always in full swing with no intention of slowing down.

What an amazing thing to have a built in best friend who is with you no matter where you go or what your family does. As they grow up, they will have many opportunities to grow apart. It is one of my hearts deepest desires to see them only grow closer together in their brotherly bond (although, at some point, I suppose I hope they aren't still having Ugly Doll play dates...)

Just Go To Sleep!

I may have gone a bit overboard with the whole "it's summer-no school in the morning-we're moving-sleep as late as you want-it's hot so take long naps again-eat dinners late-go to bed late" routine we have slipped into.

It was fun at first. The boys have been getting some extra time with Matt at night and making up for it by sleeping in late. It is beginning to wear on me though. I can often hear the big boys thumping and giggling and goofing off in their room as I am finally going to bed and drifting off to sleep myself.

Today, since Matt is traveling, I decided to begin to bring back the old schedule and I tried to stack the deck in my favor. I woke them up early, did not allow them to nap, bought them a slip n slide (ok, that was just for fun and not part of my plan) which they played on out in the sun all day long, ate dinner at a reasonable hour, even watched a movie to get them in the proper sleeping position at least!

They looked pretty tired when I marched them up to bed, and as I was tucking them in, I reminded them how tired they were and that they should have no problem just falling right to sleep. Ben looked at me like I just told him to sleep naked on the roof or something and said, "We can't do that! We never just fall right to sleep! We have plans!"

I then tried a different tactic. I pointed out that Dad is not here and that I was going to be in the shower, so please don't wander the house looking for me to tattle on each other or ask if you can have your light saber in bed. I won't be able to hear you. This was also a dumb thing for me to say, I guess. "Oh mom, I think we can find you. I know where your shower is. Silly... And anyways, when I can't find you, I just send Mitchell and he always finds you!"

I finally just said, "Ben, just stay in your bed and talk quietly, ok?" To which he answered, "But I might have to poop! What if I need a drink? What if I want to look out the window for Kevin (the neighbor)?"

This is when I just stopped talking. Clearly, he is his father's son and prefers to get the last word in. I just ended it with a strange combination of "I love you" mixed with evil eye... I heard giggling from both of them as I walked down the hallway, but they were asleep by the time I was done showering and I didn't have any visitors while I was in there.

Some Last Minute Thoughts

After all the kisses and all the silly sayings and bedtime rituals last night, the much argued over music selection was playing, but Ben had just one last thought as I was backing out the door:

"Hey mom, know how I know that I'm really into music right now? Because I know every song and I know all the words and I can sing along with all of them! Even when they aren't on, they get stuck in my head and I am singing them all the time! I just really like music..."

The last thing I heard as I was finally shutting the door was Mitchell mumbling, "Oh yeah? Well, I'm really into skeletons and I know everything about them!"

What Are They Doing In Their Sleep?

I have recently found a new obsession: finding my big boy, Ben, some big boy pajamas.  I don't want Sponge Bob or Scooby Doo or Spiderman or Batman or skeletons riding skateboards.  I want simple, cotton, plaid or single color pajamas.  I have searched high and low for these jammies for a few months now and, let me tell you, they are hard to find!  

While most of what I can find are covered in super-heroes or... sponges (Sponge Bob is a sponge, right?), most of the rest of what is out there is not made out of cotton, but polyester.  I'm not really sure what polyester is, but I do know that all pajama-makers are quite proud of this material, based on one aspect of it: it is flame-resistant!  In big yellow or red tags is written in bold, capital letters: "Flame resistant."  

I am left wondering what the big deal is here.  Maybe some of you more knowledgeable moms can help me out here, but why exactly is this an important factor when considering the merits of your children's sleepwear?  What do we expect them to do in their sleep that their clothing needs to resist fire?  Am I to assume they move so much in their sleep that they cause enough friction to start a fire, or is this merely a safety precaution in case a fire starts in their room?  If that is the case, should I depend on these amazing jammies to protect their skin from the inferno blazing around them?

I am not impressed.  Polyester may indeed have flame or heat repelling properties, but I don't like the feel or look of it and will continue my search for good old-fashioned cotton minus the weird sponge-ish characters, even if it means I have to run into their room a few seconds faster to save them in the event we actually have a fire at night.

One More Thing!

Ever since school started, I have had NO trouble with the boys staying up late in their room, goofing off, constantly getting drinks out of the sink, draining some more "last drops," "reading" every book on the shelf, bickering, giggling, shouting, whispering, and, by the sound of it, square dancing or something equally loud and thumpy!  These were all regular nightly occurrences after 8:30 pm in the Norquist boys' room after lights out, but those days are gone.  Since there is no longer any chance of a nap for them, plus they are in school every day, plus we drain every drop of daylight left to us playing outside until it just gets too cold to do so, they are just too exhausted to even attempt their usual shenanigans.  

Occasionally on a weekend though, Mitchell will have fallen asleep on the couch watching a movie in the afternoon or in the car on the way to dinner, and that little 20 min "power nap" is all it takes to bring out the nighttime shenanigans again.  

Last night, Ben fell asleep almost immediately, leaving Mitchell awake and alone and bored.  This is when he begins his tiptoeing (or often slithering on his belly) out of his room and down the hall to peak around the corner and down the stairs to check out the action down here.  First he will say something like, "my covers are all messed up and I'm uncomfortable!"  I fix those for him (cause who really wants to sleep under messed up covers?!) but then a few minutes later, he will come out again with a new problem: "You forgot to leave the bathroom light on!"  "Ben won't talk to me!" "I heard a noise!" "I need the light on to read!" "I want to wear my slippers!" "I lost my blankie!"

Last night was a funny one though.  After 3 or 4 of the usual complaints, he finally just slithered out, laid down at the top of the stairs, and asked, "What are you guys watching down there?"  I answered that it was a show for moms and dads and not for little boys and that he needed to get back to bed and not come out again.  He gave me a look, got up, pointed at me, and mumbled, "I think it is a show for kids but you don't want me down there!"  After that, he stomped back to his room and we didn't hear from him again.  

Once again, Mitchell gave Matt and me a good chuckle and we spent a few minutes talking about how purposely and accidentally funny our little boys is.  

I checked on him a bit later to make sure he didn't have the dreaded "crooked covers" all night long, and he was as peaceful as can be, curled up under perfectly straight covers, arm around his blankie, head actually on the pillow, small pile of toys and books neatly piled up at the foot of his bed, no longer needed as distractions.  

Suspicious Behavior

Last night, when I announced that it was bedtime, Mitchell immediately stopped what he was doing and climbed up the stairs.  Usually, it takes some convincing or even threatening (at least a little conversation of some sort!) to complete this process, but this night, he needed nothing but that first suggestion.  Weird.  

I followed him up there and when I entered his room, there he was, in his bed, laying on his stomach, with eyes closed, pretending to sleep.  Just as I was about to compliment him on his amazing listening and obeying skills, he opened one eye, peeked at me, then whipped his hand out from under his belly, brandishing my new pizza cutter at me with a look of pure mischief on his face!  I should have suspected roguish activity from the start, knowing Mitchell as I do.  He has been eyeing that new "tool" and attempted many a swipe ever since I bought it a few weeks ago to replace the old one that had been abused by him.  This night, he finally succeeded in getting it out of the kitchen and out of my sight.  No wonder he was in such a hurry to get to bed.  Sneaky little guy...

The Strange Sleep Habits Of My Kids

This morning, we had a discussion about sleep.  Mitchell was trying to tell us (in great detail) about the dream he had last night, while Ben constantly interrupted to point out flaws in the content: "That couldn't happen, Mitch!"  At one point in his story, he pointed out the fact that he had his eyes open during this dream, to which Ben really took exception to!  "Mitchell, you cannot dream or sleep with your eyes open!  You can dream that your eyes are open, but they actually aren't!"  Mitchell was not to be convinced and stood his ground: he had, indeed, kept his eyes open all night long, even though he was asleep and dreaming.  

This isn't the first time Mitchell has admitted this strange habit of sleeping with his eyes open.  He regularly tells me that he will lay down for bed and even sleep if he has to, but he is not going to close his eyes!  He makes that very clear.

Ben also claims an unusual sleeping habit: he doesn't sleep!  Quite often, he tells me that he was awake all night long.  When I ask him if he is tired then because of that he says, "No, I laid there quietly and rested, but didn't sleep."  Sometimes he claims to have looked out the window all night, sometimes he read throughout the night.  Sometimes he just played with his toys in bed until morning and was waiting for me, awake, when I came in to get him up for school.  

Both boys make their claims with a straight face, no tell-tale giggling, and an honest look about them.  I think they really believe it when they say it.  No biggie to me.  I don't really care how they sleep as long as they actually do sleep.

So one boy doesn't sleep at all, the other one sleeps, but keeps an eye or two open, so as not to miss what his sleepless brother is doing, I assume.  

Which Side Is The Wrong Side Anyways?

Although he wakes up quite early, Mitchell is not a morning person.  I think eventually he will discover that it is a wonderful thing to be able to go back to sleep if you want to, but so far, he is lugging his tired body out of bed much too early.  We have learned to give him his space for a while before trying to interact much with him or we are greeted with silence and glares at best and tears and angry words at worst.  

This morning was a classic example of "morning Mitchell."  When I denied his request for a popsicle for breakfast, he had a melt-down.  After sending him back to bed until he could interact with us pleasantly, Ben and I got to talking about "the wrong side of the bed."  I told Ben that Mitchell seems to always wake up on the wrong side, which made Ben think for a minute or two.  Here is our conversation: 

Ben: Which side is the wrong side, mom?

Me: Whichever side Mitchell gets out of.

Ben: But I watched him get out and it was the right side!

Me: How do you know?

Ben: Because it was the side without the guard rail!

Me: Well, that must be the wrong side I guess.

Ben: No!  It's the right side!  

Me: Why do you think that?

Ben: That's the side I got out of and I'm so happy I feel like singing! 

At this point I had to cut off the conversation because he made a logical point and also because I needed to point out that some sayings aren't necessarily logical - they are just funny sayings.  "Well, that is a pretty silly saying, but it is kinda funny."

Unfortunately, when Mitchell came down to attempt a more positive attitude, Ben had to bring up this discussion with Mitchell (who is far from logical and even farther from humor in the morning) and insisted he understand the idea of "waking up on the wrong side."  This insistence quickly led to more tears on Mitchell's part and one more trip back to bed.  He must have climbed over the guard rail the third time though, because he came down only pretending to scowl and not doing a very convincing job.  All I had to do was whip the camera out to capture the moment when a smile broke through the storm that was Mitchell's morning.  

By the way, we had Cheerios for breakfast, not popsicles.

Good Thing It's a Big Bed!

While we have company, we have a bit more complicated sleeping situation.  The older boys have to give up their room to sleep on couches in the living room (which they love!) but can't fall asleep down here unless the rest of us want to go to bed when they do (which we don't!)

So they goof around, make a lot of noise and, eventually, fall asleep in my bed each night and then we move them downstairs when we are ready to go to sleep.  Last night I went up to move them and found a lot more work than I was planning.  They had so many toys in bed with them, I'm not sure how they found enough room to get comfortable!  I don't love that it takes them hours sometimes to fall asleep at night, but I do love that they still get such a kick out of sharing a room, doing secret things at night, playing spooky games, loading up their beds with as many toys as possible, singing sweet little songs, and other general mayhem.  With the way they play at night together, you'd think they hadn't just spent all day together!  I hope they always love each other this much.