Bedtime Buddies

Both boys took great naps this afternoon – nearly 3 hours a piece.  So when Benjamin’s bedtime rolled around (7pm) and he hadn’t even gotten into the bath, I wasn’t ruffled.  I figured he could go down a little late – maybe a half hour or so.  He went down without a hitch albeit a tad late.  When Jasper marched into the bedroom a little after 8pm, only 30 minutes after Benjamin had gone down, his grand entrance woke our not-totally-asleep one-year-old and set off a chain reaction of events I only knew would happen one of these days.  We’ve never put them down awake together.  Now I know why. 

Benjamin started to cry, hard.  So I got him up in the darkness of the room and held him while I sang to Jasper – all three verses of “Jesus Loves Me.”  Then I prayed with Jasper.  This is standard stuff for our bedtime routine.  When I was done, I put Benjamin down and gave him a kiss.  No problem.  Then I went to Jasper and gave him a kiss.  No problem.   I left the room in silence and heard nothing in return … until moments later when we could hear giggling over the monitor.  Yes, giggling.  Drew went in to find Jasper at the crib egging on his brother in a nighttime laugh fest.  Jasper was warned and got back in bed.  Another warning quickly ensued.  By the third outburst of laughter, Drew found that Jasper was doing this all from the comfort of his bed.  He was staying in bed, just talking jibberish to make his brother laugh.  Benjamin, for his part, was jumping up and down on his mattress and then leaning over his crib rail as far as he could to see Jasper. 

This giggling went on until it was nearly 9pm, which is nearly 2 hours after Benjamin’s normal bedtime.  Something had to be done.  The boys had to be split up.  So, we decided – since he’s been asking to do this anyway – to let Jasper sleep in his sleeping bag in his tent in the office.  Drew extracted him from the bedroom, and I calmed the screaming baby who was none to happy that we had removed his bedtime buddy.  Drew got Jasper all set up in the tent and then somehow let Jasper talk him into leaving the French doors between the office and living room open. 

As I type Benjamin is not making a sound, likely not making a move and is (we sure hope!) sound asleep.  Jasper on the other hand is zipping the tent door open and closed, sitting up in the tent and then flopping his body down onto his pillow and has just this moment kicked his foot outside the tent.  (Drew has gone to investigate.  See a pattern?  Drew is my sleuth.  Sometimes he comes back with the silliest tales that we laugh until our sides hurt.)  Drew and I are in turn sitting in silence and muted light in our living room.  We’d normally be watching Special Report, making ourselves depressed at the decisions being made (or not made, re: Afghanistan) in Washington, DC.  Or we’d be retreating to the comic relief of Accidentally on Purpose – our guilty pleasure.  Instead, I’m typing on the computer and he’s reading his iPhone.  Oh the joys of parenthood! 

… and with too much excitement and not enough self discipline to speak of, Jasper has been put back into his bed in their bedroom at 20 minutes to 10pm.  Benjamin is asleep, and we hope this return to normal sleeping arrangements will have a normal outcome = Sleep!