Boys Night Out

I am a stickler for bedtime, operating under the theory that routine mkaes a difference when it comes to children falling asleep on their own and sleeping all night.  In my 4.5+ years of mommy experience the consistant bedtime has worked and Juliana has always slept in her own room.  So I see no reason to handle the boys differently.

During the week we pick up everyone from childcare at ~5:15.  Dinner for the kids is as soon as we get home, followed by playtime, bath, bottles for the boys and then they go to bed by 7:00.  Juliana is in bed by 8:00.  Last night we decided to sway from the normal and take the boys to the Yinz Team softball game.  Scott was playing, it is fun for me to socialize and there are lots of kids there.

I picked them up a little bit early so they were home to eat dinner at 5:00.  Clean-up, dry diapers, clean clothes, snacks and drinks for the road, big stroller in the van, both babies in the van (at this point I was exhausted, but it was too late to give up), and off we went to the game.  As soon as I left the house, they both went to sleep – I was counting on that 40 min nap to get them through the evening.

Once the game started, most of the mommies and kids headed to the giant playground across the street from the field.  The playground is great with sections for various age groups.  First the boys went on the swings.

Then they took turns on the slide.  And then they played in the grass with their playground balls and watched bubble blowing and had crackers for a snack.  Wyatt quickly realized that if he took Ruslan’s cracker, he would have two crackers. 

He also likes to have both sippy cups and alternate drinking from each one.

And he thought it would be fun to taste a rock.

They both did great for the late night.   Ruslan enjoyed the music and both of them were happy with other people holding them – that was a most pleasant surprise since they have both been total mama’s boys over the past few weeks.

At the end of the night, they sat in the stroller, staring toward the softball field.

They were asleep as soon as I started driving home.  When we got home Ruslan was happy to have his bottle.  Wyatt was too tired for anything and went in his crib immediately.  Now if they could just learn that when you are up late, you are supposed to sleep in the next morning.