Sleep, cars and that cursed sky

A while back, I was giving my husband a lift to the airport.

One child inevitably fell asleep on the 25-minute drive, which usually does not bode well for a bedtime free of bed jumping and general child mutiny.

But as The Grown-up Boy then pointed out, we would be golden if the kids both fell asleep, because THEN I could carry both knocked-out cherubs up to bed for the night. The only problem with the plan was that, well, er, it was 4:30 in the afternoon.

Now I’ve known people who put babies to bed psychotically early, like at 6:30. And who can even con their kids to go to bed in the summer in the Pacific Northwest when it’s light out until 9:45 or so (Party! Party! Party!). But putting my kids to bed before it’s dinnertime for the over-75 set seems a tad aggressive.

Not to mention the mayhem that would ensue if The Younger arose at, say, 9 p.m. and saw it was still light out.

“The sun is out! It’s not time for sleeping!”

Annoying as it is, his claim is giving me a significant tool in The Battle to Have Kids Who Ever Sleep.

Come November, when the sun is out for its usual 2.5 hours a day up here (kind of near the Yukon), I’m going to use his line back at him. “Whoops! It’s 5 p.m. Time for bed!”

“Look! The sun isn’t out! See ya at 7:30 a.m. Well, if the sun is up, that is!”

Maybe I am looking forward to fall this year after all.—Jillian O’Connor