AllFreeNovel
Share Us
33
Lindsi
Bedtime Kisses
“Let’s go, honey. It’s time for bed.” I tap Benny’s bubble-butt and hurry him along the hallway toward the room he’s sharing with Liv.
“But I don’t wanna go to sleep yet. The sun’s still awake.”
I roll my eyes and step to the curtains at the end of the hall. Tugging them aside, I point to the dark shadows moving through the trees outside. “The sun isasleep, babe. You must be so tired, you can’t see straight.”
“But I’mnottired.”
I am. I need a beer, then I need bed. “Too bad, babe. Check the clock, then get your butt into bed.”
My son can’t tell the time, but he got my stubborn streak, and being allowed to check the clock makes him feel in charge.
Stepping into the bedroom, I drop my head back with frustration at Livi’s excited squeals. She stands in her crib with her hands on the rail, and jumps a full foot in the air and sends her hair bouncing.
I put her to bed before Ben even hopped into the tub; she was supposed to be knocked out already. “That’s twoI’m not tired’s.You guys are sending me crazy.”
“What you say, Mommy?”
“Nothing.” I tap his butt and help him onto the bed. “Time to put your jammies on.”
“Can we watch a movie?”
“No.” I feed his arms through the sleeves of the green and blue dinosaur pyjama top and get to work on the buttons.
“What about dessert? I’ve been a good boy. I can have dessert?”
“Still no.” I smile at his fighting spirit. “But if you sleep really good tonight, we can watch The Grinch and have pancakes in the morning.”
“Promise?”
I press a noisy kiss to his nose. “Promise.”
“Pinky promise?”
I hold my hand out to take his. “Pinky promise! Now step into your pants.” He trips. He giggles. He catches his toes in the fabric, and pulls my hair accidentally, but we get the dinosaur pants on. “Finally. Now get into bed and stop negotiating.”
“Story?”
“Sure.”
“Livi, too?”
I turn back to the crib and pull a not-even-close-to-asleep baby out and bring her to Benny’s full-size bed. “What book did you choose?”
It’s a trick question, because we read the same book every single day.
Every.
Friggin.
Day.
It’s aboutboats, coats, and puppy dogs,and while I acknowledge that it’s a clever book, that it rhymes, and that it was actually fun to read once upon a time, when you’ve read it every single day for four years – that’s more than a thousand nights in a row – the pages start to crumble at the same rate your brain does.
