Called out...

Yesterday we spent much of the day out of the house.  We went to the zoo for a few hours, and, then, on our way home, we decided to stop at "the blue place" (a.k.a. Ikea) to let the kids go to Smaland (the Ikea-employee-staffed child care center within the store...a.k.a. 45 minutes of freedom for Mommy and Daddy).


SIDE NOTE:

Avery and Noel LOVE to go to Smaland.  If we mention making a trip to Ikea, they BEG us to drop them off to play.  If we agree, they immediately start making a plan for their time there..."First, we'll go to the giant shoe.  Then, we'll go to the ball pit.  Next, we'll color for a bit.  Then, we'll go watch some of the movie."

When Avery was a baby I thought I would never leave a child of mine at a store's babysitting station..."Who would leave their children with strangers just so they can shop?" (Do you sense the amount of judgement that was oozing out of that in-my-head/spoken-only-to-Jeff statement?  It was oozing...).  BUT, here we are...years and another (crazy!) child later, and Jeff and I have been known to go to Ikea for no other purpose than to drop our kiddos off in Smaland (Jeff: "Why are we here, again?" Ellie: "To have a 45-minute break...").


Back to the memorable moment at hand...

We were out all day...and our kids were running/playing hard the whole time.  After picking them up at Smaland (at around 6:00pm), we realized that they were both exhausted, and we were afraid that they (particularly Noel) would fall asleep on our way home, without having eaten any supper.  So, we decided to feed them at Ikea before leaving.  They ate...we got in the car...and within a few minutes, they were both OUT.  They slept the whole way home (20 minutes or so), and we tried to carry them in and put them in bed without waking them up.

I REALLY wanted to give them a bath after their day out-and-about...especially after playing on the playground at the zoo and going to Smaland (since I am a BIG germaphobe!)...but I knew they would be too awake after bathing to be able to go to bed afterward, so Jeff and I decided (that I would wash all their bedding and bathe them first thing in the morning and) it would be best if we could just keep them asleep.  No such luck...

After we got Noel inside and out of his clothes, he was not only no longer sleepy...he was rejuvenated.  He woke Avery up with all of his noisy awakeness.

I tried sitting in the floor of their bedroom...hoping that Avery would be able to fall back asleep and that my presence would force Noel to quietly lay in his bed until he realized just how sleepy he actually was.  No such luck...

I took Avery out of the bedroom and put her in my bed, hoping that would solve the problem.  No such luck...

Noel kept getting out of bed or calling for me with need after need after need.  After he had already gone to the potty, gotten a drink of water, told me there were toys in the floor behind his bed, informed me that he was lonely in his room and wanted company, asked if he could get up to retrieve his spot blankey which had fallen in the floor beside his bed, questioned me about where Jeff was (he had gone to return a movie), and pleaded for Avery to rejoin him in their shared bedroom, he called for me AGAIN.

When I entered his room, I found him sitting up in his bed, looking down at the skin on his arm.  After a few seconds, he looked up at me...


Noel: "Do you think all of the germ-bugs from the ball pit [at Smaland] are eating my skin right now?"

Me: "Are you worried about that?"

Noel: [with a smirky grin on his face] "No, but you are..."


(I was...)

Smarty pants.

SMART smarty pants...

As punishment for being so sassy, I made him take his chances with the flesh-eating germ-bugs...

He survived.