Napping Together

Nap time today was a little late.  Christian and Tes were playing in their room with Nick's dad, and when I went in to put them down they were both in very silly moods.  I was able to convince Tes to go to the potty, but even though Christian was already in bed, he was far from falling asleep.  He was laying in bed, pretending to snore, with a very goofy look on his face.  I pulled his blanket up and told him it was nap time now, not play time.  "Don't wake me up mom, I'm sleeping." he replied, smiling.  Pretend napping and real napping are usually mutually exclusive, and I closed the door with little hope that Christian would fall asleep.

Tes was finished on the potty and, just as I was about to take her upstairs for her nap, she announced that she wanted to nap with her brother.  My first instinct was to say no, and we got in a little argument about it.  The kids never nap in the same room, and I knew that in the mood they were in, they would just giggle and laugh, and not sleep.  Then I would be dealing with cranky kids when I was trying to cook dinner, and my whole evening would be a mess.  (I don't know where Tessie gets her flair for the dramatic from.)  When I said as much to Tes, but she promised she would be quiet, and begged to nap with her brother.  That's when it hit me; I'm lucky they want to be in the same room.  I'm lucky they want to spend every waking second together.  Why was I picking this battle?

I warned Tes that we had to be quiet, and we tip-toed back into the kid's room.  Of course, Christian was still awake.  I tucked them both back in, and gave them the warning that they had to sleep, no talking.  They both repeated it back to me, and I left the room.  As soon as I shut the door, I heard them giggling on the other side, and whispering to each other.  I fought my need to open the door and shush them, and decided to just let them enjoy each other.  In no time at all these moments would be gone.

So I made peace with the fact that I would have a hard evening, in exchange for some sibling bonding time, and went back to cleaning the living room.  After a while, I realized that I hadn't heard any sounds coming from the bedroom.  I pressed my ear against the door, and didn't hear a peep.  They were both asleep!  Either that, or they had strangled each other, but I wasn't going to risk it by checking.  They both slept for over an hour, and for once, so did I.  I guess, without meaning to, I made the right parenting choice, and it was a beautiful one indeed.