Andy and Alex Lion!

Getting the boys to bed is an hour long task, sometimes longer.  First, we start with the bath.  I have been giving Andy and Alex the same bath now that Alex is able to sit up on his own.  Of course, Alex likes to suck the bathwater up through a wash cloth, so doing this in a shared bath becomes doubly disgusting- that's two sets of genitalia floating in the water, two butts, the possibility of two little boys leaking out a little pee, etc.  But, in the interest of just getting the bath over and done with, it's better and faster if they just bathe together and ignore the obvious health hazards involved when the baby decides to ingest as much lukewarm penis water as he possibly can.

It's all cute and adorable having the boys together in the same tub, but Andy hates to share the tub toys.  I have tried to explain that the tub toys belong to no one.  That they are to be used by anyone who sits in the tub- be it Andy, Alex, or a traveling band of gypsies that stop by for a soak.  Andy is not satisfied by this explanation of possession equaling temporary ownership, though, and inevitably, after he has made Alex cry by taking away the ninth tub toy from him, I am forced to remove Alex from the bath while harshly chastising a smiling Andy.  I put on Alex's diaper and pajamas and then get Andy out from the tub.  Andy proceeds to run around the upstairs in his hooded towel pretending to be a princess.  Sometimes he declares that Andy is a princess- and Mommy is Shrek.  I am trying not to take that too personally.

Capturing Andy to put on his nighttime diaper and pajamas is like completing an obstacle course followed by a rigorous workout.  After managing to grab the little booger, the only way to really get him into his pajamas is by sitting on him while tugging on the clothes.  Then we go downstairs to get milk, head back upstairs, and read about fifteen books.  Finally, Andy will find Chris and tell him good night and then come back into his room where I've been waiting for him while trying not to drift into my own story-induced slumber.

Andy will turn out the light and then climb into bed where I have to lay with him for about five minutes.  It's during this time that we talk about Andy Lion and his little brother Alex Lion.  Andy and Alex Lions are two lions that live at the zoo and have the exact same daily adventures as Little Boy Andy and Little Baby Alex.  I think this must blow Andy's mind- that there are two lions with the SAME NAMES as him and his brother and THEY DO THE EXACT SAME THINGS that he and Alex do!  There is one major exception, though.  Andy Lion learns lessons quickly, especially about sharing tub toys or listening to his lion parents or not biting or hitting and about eating all of his meals.  Andy the little boy- not so much.

Andy loves talking about the lions, and now every night he demands lion stories.  I lay in bed with him recapping his day in lion form, and Andy soaks it up, sometimes adding in names or places or things the lion like to eat (did you know lions love cake?).  This is one of those special moments that we share each day- you know, the kind of special moment that you half adore and half wish you'd never started because now it's just one more thing that delays bed time.

Finally, after the lion stories are over with, I leave Andy in his room and go find Alex, who has usually been given his final bottle of the night by Chris.  I smother Alex in kisses, double check the abscess on his butt like the borderline OCD mom I am, and then it's back upstairs, where I stick Alex in his crib, and take Andy to the bathroom one last time (toilet training is awful for getting kids to bed on time).  Then it's downstairs for me where I pop open a bottle of wine, lay down on my favorite spot on the sofa, and pretend not to hear Andy calling out for me in the night.

Around nine-thirty, I'm fast asleep.  Sometimes, just sometimes, the same can be said for the boys.