"And how was your day, dear?"

Since I've gone back to work, I've been feeling a little badly about the amount of time I spend with the children during the week.

Our evening routine goes something like this:
5:50 - Mommy arrives home from work with the boys
5:55 - after "finding" Alaina who is hiding (usually on the couch, covered with a blanket), we all sit down to dinner. Yes, that means my wonderful husband has dinner WAITING for me upon my arrival home. Slap me if I ever complain about him again.
6:20 (or so) - the boys start fussing and need amusement
6:45 - we give in to them and start the bedtime routine.

As you can see, that's not a lot of time with the babies on a work night. And most of that time is spent sort of forcing them to stay awake and engaged. I guess they tire themselves out at daycare what with all the playing, pooping, eating and (of course) napping.

But last night was a rare night. I was actually looking forward to putting them to bed. I wanted to plop into bed myself at 8:03 pm. I had a migraine coming on (Brian: "Are you stressed?", Me: "Are we between Thanksgiving and Christmas?", Brian: "Yes", Me: "Then, yes") And last night the boys decided not only did they want to stay awake, they wanted to be adorable. Friendly, laughing, smiling, talking. Poor timing boys. Poor timing.

I enjoyed this as long as possible but finally at 10:00, when my head hurt so much I had tears in my eyes, we decided to do something we've never done before. Put them down awake. Wide awake. And did they cry? Scream? No. They hung out talking to each other like an old married couple discussing their day. Honestly, one made a noise, the other responded. It was the cutest thing I've ever seen. Still didn't make me want to stay out of bed myself one minute longer, but really, really cute.