I Spy

Sighhhh. Thad and I were saying our evening prayer in bed and I had just prayed that the kids would sleep well. Before I had even said Amen, the familiar cry of our two-year-old rang out from his bedroom. We waited. His bedroom door opened, and a second later so did ours. He walked into our room, half asleep. He had to go potty. I took him.

"Can I have a nak?" He asked as he sat on the potty.

"No, you already ate dinner and brushed your teeth. Just go back to sleep and you can eat when you wake up in the morning." I replied.

He cried a little in protest, but was too tired to put up much of a fight. I put him in his bed, pulled up the blankets, and kissed him goodnight a second time.

I shut his door halfway, and returned to bed. A minute later, the crying started up again. Benjamin still wanted a snack. His little tummy was empty, and I decided it wasn't worth the fight. I carried him out into the kitchen and set him down in a chair. He requested milk in a sippy and bread and butter. He rarely drinks out of sippies anymore and I tell him that he's a big boy now, and big boys don't drink out of sippies. But at 11 p.m. at night, I wasn't going to protest.

We sat in the dark kitchen while Benjamin happily ate his bread and downed his milk. A narrow sliver of light shone through the open pantry door. I watched Benjaming drink his sippy contentedly. His face was relaxed, his eyes sleepy. I cradled his cheek with my palm, expecting him to lay his head down and close his eyes. Instead he looked up at me and said,

"Yet's pay "I Spy."

I laughed. "You want to play I spy? Ok bud, just for a minute."

He still had a half a piece of bread left. He went first. He started describing an animal.

"No bud, that's the animal game," I explained like I do every time he wants to play I spy. "You have to pick something in the room and tell me what color it is, and then I try to guess what you're looking at."

Then it was my turn. He went again, and so did I. He gets so excited when he guesses right. Then he spoke for a third time, and I didn't understand him.

"What bud? I asked.

"I doe to bed," he said softly. And just like that, our little game was done. It was a fun few minutes, just me and Benjamin, sitting in the dark, playing I spy. But his tummy was now full, and he was ready for sleep. His sippy was empty and a small piece of bread full of bite marks lay alone on the crumb-ridden napkin. I picked him up, and he wrapped his arms around my neck and he laid his head down on my shoulder. I carried him back to bed, pulling the covers up and kissing him goodnight. A third time.

"Goodnight," I said softly. "I love you."

"I yub you too," came his sweet, sleepy reply.

I'm sure he was asleep before I reached the door.