of course, with two children, there are very important bedtime rituals with details that must be adhered to for any hope of success. we must go potty and change diapers. we must find binks and the perfect bedtime buddies. we must have sippy cups ready to go and "one last drink" before the lights go out. we must have "hugs and kissies," about 47 times before we can actually close our eyes and then one more for good measure. we have to make sure the covers are "nice and cozy" between each set of those hugs and kissies.

since cohen got his loft-style bunkbed, it's harder to get the covers just right. it's an ordeal to say the least to climb up into that bed with him, so unfortunately it doesn't happen as often as it used to. i miss this particular part of our bedtime ritual a lot more than i realized i loved it before the bunkbed. i also had to deal with the fact that i missed him being 6 inches off the ground rather than 6 feet. it's a full sized bed so he has plenty more room to thrash around the way toddlers do, so i'm not as worried, but every once in awhile. . .

last night we were discussing how much we loved each other, and how we didn't actually have to go pee pee for 12th time, and that we didn't need anymore water, because that's what causes all of the trips to the bathroom, and how we could just sleep with "bulldoggie" and "elephant" and "ralphy" the turtle and sponge bob and the other elephant and the teddy bear with the missing nose and the sock monkey and that maybe we didn't actually need anybody else as they wouldn't all fit. and then we discussed what we were going to have for breakfast and lunch and how we didn't quite know what we wanted for dinner just yet but we could strike a deal that yogurt would be a good choice for a snack as long as it had candy in it and . . . and. . .  and. .

y'know, all the important stuff we don't need to must discuss instead of before going to bed.

we were having this discussion with him rocking in his bed dangerously close to the railing and me anxiously standing ready to catch him below.