Today was the first really awesome weather day that I have had at home with the lils this “spring”. The rare nice days have been daycare days, or travel days, or days when we had indoor plans made. We were lucky to have nothing going on and made the most of the day. We were dressed and outside at shortly after 8:00am, only to return indoors (briefly) at naptime and then the end of the day. It was a great day! So great that Goose, when reviewing her day with me at bedtime said “Oh Mommy, we forgot to play inside today!”

After such a full day of fresh air, I would have thought that both lils would be easy to bed tonight, but such was not the case. There were no great fights, but the entire bedtime process took about twice as long as normal for both. Woo eventually settled in to bed and drifted off, but Goose proved to be a tough nut. Each time I left her room she would start calling, either with a demand that I “come!”, or a claim that she needed to go to the bathroom. I knew this was a ruse, and called her out on it, but she insisted. I finally relented and brought her to the toilet, only to have her laugh, and play and generally arse around for fifteen minutes. Finally I got her to admit that she just wanted to play, told her that there was no reason why she couldn’t do that in bed, and launched her back into bed. She returned right to calling for me, but eventually settled into play and songs.

This lasted for about twenty more minutes, when she started to drift off. Sadly she was whimpering too, so I went up for one last cuddle. As soon as I went into the room she claimed she wanted to go to the bathroom. I said I would take her, but also offered a cuddle in the rocking chair. She leapt out of bed for the rocker, where she settled into my arms and I sang to her quietly. I could tell that she was not entirely comfortable with how we were sitting, so I offered to have her lie in my arms, like she did when she was a baby.

We rocked like that for a few minutes in the last light of the day. It was just enough light that I could make out that she was just staring up at me as I sang and then fell into silence. A few minutes went by and I offered to move her to her bed, but she said no. So I asked if she wanted to fall asleep in my arms and she whispered yes. “Just close your eyes then”, I suggested, and she drifted off. We were both content.