These funny little people of mine

I had to get something done for work tonight, so I asked the kids to go lie down. Autumn had fallen asleep earlier and was already in bed. I was almost done and came up to check on them. 

I laughed as I saw Autumn lying there in what she calls her ballet dress. She insisted on taking off her jammies and putting on her dress. In fact, earlier I had walked away only to return to find her with her jammies off and her dress over her head with one arm in. 

I laughed as I looked at Ivy fully engrossed in an art project on the bed. (At 9:30 nonetheless) She was sitting there surrounded by crayons, markers, and scissors, with a lovely paper placed gently on my pillow as she dabbed a bit of glue on her project.  I saw her little feet sitting there covered with tights which are on under her pajama pants. This because she was convinced putting on her tights now would help her get ready for tomorrow. 

I also laughed as I looked over at Owen with his iPad on his legs blasting his new song- Party in the USA by Miley Cyrus. We had made a deal earlier in the night that I would buy him the song if he worked really hard on his homework and stopped complaining. With homework done, he was lying next to nighttime art project girl singing his heart out with his song on repeat.  As I walked in he smiled and kept singing.  He was not happy when I asked him to turn it down. 

The best part about all of this is the fact that none of this is out of the ordinary. Try as I might, I seriously have to wonder what a normal bedtime routine looks like.  

The rascally one

Autumn.

She is a character.  In fact, Angie and I even call her character.  She is teeny tiny, hardly has any hair, talks up a storm, and is full of sass, even at 2 and almost a 1/2. 

Last night we were lying in bed with the other two kids.  They had fallen asleep a few minutes earlier and I was sooo tired.  I kept begging her to lie down and go to sleep.  She on the other hand, kept turning my lamp on and off, on and off.  At one point I said, “Autumn, turn the light off, I don’t want it on”.  To which she replied, “Well, I do” and turned it on again.  I tried to stay stern but her little sassy words made me laugh.  I kept falling asleep and would wake up to click, click, click.  When I didn’t respond I heard a little voice and could hear the smile on her face as she said slowly, “Look what I am doing”.  Click Click Click. 

And it isn’t just me she loves to torture.

The other day Owen was holding something that was clearly his and she wanted it.  She was following him around the house crying, with Ivy by her side.  He started crying, cause she is so big and mean of course, saying that it was his and she was trying to take it.  He stopped in the kitchen to tell me what was going on and while we were talking, her small sleuth like self snatched the toy out of Owen’s hand and then she raced over to Ivy with a look of sheer joy on her face and proudly said, “Ivy, I got it!”.  Ivy looked so pleased with her.  I turned back and looked at Owen, crying, empty-handed.  It all happened so suddenly.  Owen causes them grief, but I am beginning to realize that one day (maybe a day not so far away), he will need as much protection from them as they do from him (and maybe more, those girls as a team may be serious trouble).

 

Rules to Live By

The kids were all going outside to play the other day.  As I was helping Ivy get ready to go out, I said, “Be careful outside and have fun, and don’t get lost”.  She turned to me and said back, “I know not to get lost”.  And with a small pause she finished by saying, “And, if a dog walks by, run in the house.”  Yep, that is right.  Be careful, have fun, don’t get lost, and if a dog walks by, run inside.  I think she has thought this through before.