I just looking....

I am getting really good and changing diapers and putting to bed almost asleep or already sleeping children. We can do the occasional

\ day without a nap but too many in a row and it takes its toll.
Friday the kids and I (Jim was on a field trip) were going to a Sunday School party. I told the boys they needed to take a nap and we tried and tried to get them asleep. Late in the day I was successful with Doug but not with Andy. Usually Andy is the one who needs more sleep.
So Friday night we went to the party and I was one of the first to leave because Andy was fading. He fell asleep in the car on the way home amid crying because he was strapped in a car seat. I managed to change his diaper and get him in his pajamas all while he slept on the changing table.
I got to see a different side of Doug...the side that might have occurred had he been an only child. Jo was still asleep in her car seat and Andy was already in bed. Doug adored the attention of having both mommy and daddy to himself. He willingly said every word of our bedtime prayer and brushed his teeth and was just delightfully cooperative through and through.

Saturday neither child really napped. This time Andy was ok (perhaps it was the incentive of having an ice cream cone after dinner...though he wanted to "save" the last few bites of it for the next day). Doug faded enough that he was more interested in going to bed than having dessert. So he went straight from the table to new diaper, pjs and bed.

So today, even though we were in the car at prime nap time with boys rubbing their eyes prior to getting in the car, and then we tried for a nap when we got home...no one slept (or at least no one in the under three set). The boys were warned that no nap meant an earlier bed time. So we reached dinner and Andy ate some but kept leaning his forehead up against the edge of the table. He was clearly not completely awake. He finally crawled into my lap and didn't want me to do anything to him that prevented him from leaning on me. Jim and I kept asking if he wanted to eat anything more but he would say "I just looking." He clearly meant...stop asking me questions I am trying to fall asleep.
Sure enough I ended up changing a sleeping boy into his pj's and putting him in bed. Doug was not far behind.