As her eyelashes grew heavy and threatened to find their resting place on her cheeks, a sound caught her attention. A thump and an "I'M OKAY!" burst through the silence and grabbed Mila's consciousness. Her eyes turned towards the source of the interruption as if waiting for the next act in a three-ring circus.
The circus master did not disappoint. "Hiiiiii!" she yelled across the hall. With a bounce in her step and a song in her heart, Alexis burst into dance. As she does.
One thing led to another and suddenly I had two little girls in identical pajamas fighting for the real estate that is my lap. The little one is feistier than you would think, so she was winning the territory war. Hugs were exchanged and goodnights were said and children were ushered towards their nighttime places.
"Buh-bye!" Mila exclaimed a good thirty seconds too late. The words went unheard by their intended recipient, so I called out to Alexis to relay the message. Never one to believe second hand information, Alexis popped back into Mila's room and tried to elicit another goodbye.
It didn't work. But then, 30 seconds later, we repeated that thing where words intended for one person were heard only by another. Again and again we flipped through the sequence of events until somehow two little girls were suddenly really very awake.
So much for bedtime.
The two best friends curled up on the floor with a book. It's a silly book about love that I insist is an interactive event, so Mila held up her toes when the line "I love you from your fingers to your toes" was read out loud.
One silly thing led to another and another and another and before you know it, I watched shenanigans like this for more than ten minutes. Then I grabbed my phone to get video and it continued several more minutes.
There's no point to this story. There's no moral or deeper meaning or symbolism. It's jut a little tale of a good night with two girls that I want to remember forever and ever and ever.