Child Insomniacs read Encyclopedias

4:00 AM

*thump, thump, thump... giggle... laugh*
*thump, thump... giggle... giggle*

[my husband nudges me]

(sigh)

Pulling myself out of bed, I walk out of the bedroom and note that Sophia and Jack are playing in his room. Their eyes filled with excitement look at me innocently and Jack exclaims: "mom, we playin'"
"Guys it's the middle of the night. You need to be in bed!"
Sophia chimes in: "Mom, it's like the morning. I am wide awake, mom. It's just dark outside. I think it's the morning."
Jack's ever-so-helpful negotiation tactic: "Mom, I found my spiderman sunglasses. They was in my room. They cool. Look mom." *putting on his glasses*
(Note: he's good at the redirect and distract negotiations, and my husband informs me that I too use this. So, I can't blame Jack because if I use it, then it might be something he learned from me.)
I notice that not only do they have mounds of blankets in their room, but 3 huge encyclopedias (B, J-K, and the Index) that they must have been pouring over. Who does this! Who wakes up in the middle of the night to read encyclopedias and marvel at sunglasses?!
"No, Sophia and Jack it is 4am, you need to be in bed. This is not morning-time. This is the middle of the night and you need to be in bed."
Sophia looks at me with exasperation as if I certainly do not understand that it really is morning! Of course, she cannot read the clock, so she has no further argument.
"Sophia, you need to get in your bed and Jack you need to go to sleep."
Jack persists: "Mom, LOOK at these cool sunglasses. I found them in my room. I look like Spiderman. LOOK mom."
"Yes, Jack I am glad you found your sunglasses. Now go to sleep."
He frowns and grabs his blankie.
Sophia makes a show of how much I am putting her out and explains that she has her blankets and her babies in Jack's room. (This only means that she's been up for awhile because she had the time to bring all her blankets down and all 4 babydolls with their blankies and bedding.) She complains: "but MOM! I have to bring ALL my stuff back into my room!!!"
I grab her blankets and she starts bringing the baby parade back upstairs to her room. Her disappointment magnified in each trudging foot step. After several trips due to the volume of things she had brought down to Jack's room, she is finally tucked in bed and her light turned off.
As I stumble back to bed, I simply hope they fall asleep. This morning, I was informed that my husband had gotten up with me and stayed up to ensure that Sophia stayed in her room. So, he was up at 4am and I got to sleep in till 7am. lol oops!