Tucking in Tyler

Tonight the boys were wound up. Wow. It was a circus from the minute we pulled into the garage (when Tyler tried to exit my car, NASCAR style, through his window), until the time we went to bed. So entirely crazy, it was exhausting.

Being as wound up as they were, I knew bedtime would be almost impossible. I tried letting them get some of their energy out early by running laps around a local pond (which is sometimes scary because instead of running around it, they want to run up to it - sometimes six inches from it!), and we tried dancing in the living room. With our satellite dish, we get the Sirius/XM channels. I put on one of the dance channels, and let the boys go to town.

(By the way, Tyler totally inherited my dance moves. For those of you that know me, instead of dancing, he could possibly be an extra on the moving "Breakin'", if you know what I mean...).

Bedtime was the circus I expected. Two boys that were not eager for sleep, and so wound up from an awesome day. Tyler especially.

That boy is in overdrive right now. He is learning so much, and his mind is a total sponge. He is spelling everything he can see, and asks questions about everything. Tonight I explained everything from why goose poop exists, to why butter melts in the microwave. Seriously - at 7pm, I don't have that much brainpower left. At one point, I remember telling him to ask his chemistry teacher in high school.

After reading our books, and doing our bedtime routine, Tyler was out of his bed about five times, with every excuse in the book. "I need a drink.", "I need to potty", "You forgot to say goodnight", "I hear a noise in my room", etc. The last time he got up, I followed him back to his room and got an idea.

I remember being a young kid, and having my dad put me to bed. He always came into our room, and tucked us in really good. The blankets were tucked under every bit of you, so it felt like a cocoon. Then we started our routine:

"Sleep tight, don't let the bedbugs bite!" he would say...

"See you later, Alligator!", I would yell, as he walked out of the room.

"After awhile, Crocodile!", he would yell back from the hallway.

It was so routine, yet so.....necessary. It was the closing of my day. It put my mind at ease, and made me go to sleep, smiling.

I took Tyler back to his bed, and tucked him in, especially tight. Of course, I had to explain to him that there are no bugs in his bed, and why we were talking about alligators and crocodiles, but he liked it. When I left his room, he was smiling.

And he didn't get back out of his bed again. I think we have a new bedtime tradition to start.......