He is the sweetest boy ever.

So, last night was poker night for Dave. He tries to make the weekly game and I think it's good for him to have a regular social outlet, especially since he's a stay-at-home parent.

But poker night for Dave also means I get to try to get both kiddos down to bed by myself. Since both kids still need active parenting to fall asleep, this gets a little hard. I usually end up enjoying the experience, but I am always a bit terrified of it.

One of my worst nights as a mother was a poker night. But that night I was trying to be super mom and not rely on the TV to keep Fin occupied while I got Greta to sleep in her dark, quiet room. I have since come to my senses and realize that while I don't like letting Fin watch TV before bed, if it means bedtime for Greta is quick and painless and then I can focus on reading and telling stories to Fin, it makes poker night on my own so much easier.

Yesterday, Fin hadn't napped at all, and HaHa offered to make us dinner at her house. This seemed like a perfect plan for poker night. I wouldn't have a kitchen to clean up while keeping an eye on both kids between dinner and bedtime, and there was a very good chance that both kids would fall asleep in the car on our way home. Or at least one of them.

WRONG.

Both kids were wide awake when we got home from HaHa's. And I should mention that I started yesterday at 5:30am with Greta and had had only 5 hours of sleep the night before and was awakened by Dave and the kids 4 times in that five hours. So, needless to say, I was more than a little exhausted, especially after working all day, doing the commute, all the usual working parent stuff. And Dave, HaHa and I had gotten into a bit of a disagreement over dinner as well. Not the best of situations to start a poker night bedtime on my own.

Anyway, when I realized both kids were awake after dinner and the drive home, I just figured I had to make the best of it. As I unloaded the kids and got them into the house, I asked Fin if he wanted to watch Sid the Science Kid or Caillou while I got Greta down to sleep, then I would read him some books.

He took one look around the living room and said, "No. There are monsters in here. I want to stay with you. And there are monsters in that room, too. Turn on all the lights!"

I have no idea where he suddenly got a fear of monsters from (the only "monsters" he knows - to my knowledge, anyway - are the Sesame Street monsters: Cookie, Grover, Elmo, etc.), but no amount of lighting, reassurances, hugs, talking would convince him to stay in the living room by himself. So I told him he could come sit in Greta's room with me while I nursed her to sleep, but he had to be QUIET. I tried to set him up with some books on the floor, but every few minutes, he'd ask if Greta was asleep yet, come over to kiss her, try to climb in my lap, etc. And he needed the lights to be on completely, so I knew the chances of her dozing off in the brightness and noise were just about nil.

I gave up on that attempt and asked Fin if we could all go snuggle in bed together to see if Greta would fall asleep that way. He said, "Sure!" and happily ran into our bedroom.

I tried to lay down with Greta and get her nursing again, but Fin didn't want to lay down behind me to snuggle; he wanted to snuggle around Greta as well. This was terribly sweet as she was curled into me to nurse and he was curled around her and reaching over her to me, but again - he was kissing her and talking the whole time. And the lights were on. Naturally, she thought this meant it was playtime.

I eventually gave up all attempts at bedtime and just let them play. However, by this time I was also struggling to stay awake and was so tired I was trying not to cry. I lost that battle.

So there I was crying from sheer exhaustion and trying to just let the kids play for a bit while I figured out how in the world I was going to get them to sleep. I was proud of myself for not getting angry at them (as I have in the past when so very tired, I'm sad to admit) but also just completely wiped out.

Fin looked over at me and immediately says, "Why are you sad, Mommy? Don't be sad. There are no monsters here. I'll keep you safe. You don't need to be sad. It's okay. I'll protect you from the monsters."

This, of course, only made me cry harder.

He is SUCH an amazing, sweet, caring little guy.

So I explained that I was just tired, very, very tired - and not sad or scared. And I asked him how we could get Greta to sleep. He told me that he and Greta could play and I should just lay down and get some rest. LOL!

We ended up playing and crawling around on the floor for another hour or so. I tried nursing Greta several more times and at one point, she seemed to be dozing off enough that I took her into her room, reminded (begged) Fin to just not talk for a couple of minutes, he leaned against me and read some books while she dozed off and I was able to get her down for the night.

My sweet boy and I read some more books in bed, he asked for (and got) some juice, we read two more books and then he was finally comfortable with me turning out the lights. He pulled the blankets up to his chin and was asleep within two minutes.

I just laid there and watched him sleep, amazed at how loving, caring and wonderful this little guy really is. I am so blessed.