Strange Things Happen When the Sun Goes Down

You know those things your kids do that are so wacky and yet so very that child and endearing that you think you'll never forget them? Yet somehow, time passes and the child gets older and stops doing that thing and then you DO FORGET or at least the memory of it fades away? For example, when Reagan was an infant she had this cry, a scream really, that was so distinctly hers and so remarkably different from the boys' cries. It had a vibration to it. It was unlike any baby cry I have ever heard, and Jim and I would say, One of these days we really need to get that recorded so we don't forget what it sounds like!

But we never did, and now it's a distant memory.

When Thomas was a slightly older infant, he LOVED the doorway jumper, and he figured out that if he held his foot just so and wriggled his toes just right, he could get it to spin round and round in circles. We also never got this on tape.

Well, there are a few things that the kids are doing that aren't really recordable because they happen at night, but I at least want to take a moment and share them here while they are fresh memories.

I know I have discussed the nighttime head-banging before, and I am pleased to report that it has greatly diminished in frequency. I can't remember the last time I woke up to hear someone (Jonathan) banging a headboard or wall. This habit has been replaced with others. For Jonathan it is sleeping in the floor. I may have mentioned this before also, I can't remember, but he's still doing it. Not every night, but regularly, we find him in the floor beside his bed when we check on the kids before going to bed ourselves. He always takes his blanket with him, but not generally anything else. Most of the time he is right beside the bed, often halfway under it, but every now and then, he is out in the middle of the room. We return him to his bed, and he usually stays there, but sometimes I'll find him back in the floor in the morning or at some point in the night when I happen to be paying their room a visit.

The other habit to relate comes from Reagan. She likes to show up in our room in the middle of the night and stare at me. I'll wake up with the feeling that I'm being watched, but not in a creepy way like someone has broken into the house. I'll open my eyes and there she'll be.

Hi, baby, I whisper. Do you need anything?

At that point, she either tries to climb into bed with us or steps back a pace and holds out her hand for me to escort her back to bed. Oh, but wait! She wants water first! Always there must be water. I used to take her back to bed and then have to com all the way back to the kitchen to get water and take it all the way back to her room before I could go back to bed myself, but now I just go straight to the water and don't wait for her to ask for it.

Now, I realize that lots of kids come into their parents' room in the middle of the night wanting water or crawling into bed, but this is something that Reagan does and the boys do not, so it sets her apart.

What cute things did/do your kids do?