Sleeping Beauties

I have been trying to get Isaiah to bed earlier. Typically this child goes to bed when we do. That is not usually before 11:30 PM. He also sleeps in our room. Yeah, I know. Teenage brother groused enough about having to share a room with a sibling that is ten years younger, that we moved a cot into our room, and now Isaiah falls asleep looking at momma and poppa. For the last three nights I have been rather successful in getting him to bed before 9PM and the crazy thing is that he is sleeping 10-12 hrs. When he goes to bed late with us, he still gets up rather early. So he is sleeping better and longer. He's been taking a bath or shower before bed too, and then wraps up in a purple, hooded, thick terry robe that I found at a thrift store. He runs from the bathroom to his little cot, and covers up with a thick Mexican blanket and within five minutes is asleep.
Last night however, he was fighting this newly formed ritual. He wanted to talk as he lay snuggled in freshly bathed warmth. "Momma, what kind of toys did you have when you were a little girl? What was your momma's name? What was your poppa's name? What color was your house? What was your sister's name? Did you have brudders? What was Poppa's momma's name? What was his Poppa's name?" I would answer his questions and he would repeat my answers. He lay on his side gazing at me with sleepy eyes and a small smile. Soon he was slumbering, and I counted the freckles on his nose.
Next thing I know Joe is crawling into bed with me, I am fully dressed and have missed out on my last evening with Nicki. She and Niah, I am told are watching "The Last Samurai" on the fold out couch in the basement, which Johanna and Nicki have shared the last two nights. I groogily change into pajamas and sleep.
This morning I wake up and as is my custom, I peek in on my sleeping children. Niah is not in his futon. Johanna is not in her bed. Oh that's right, she's gone for over a week-traveling again. I find Niah sprawled out on the hide a bed with Nicki balled up on the edge. It occurs to me that maybe this should bother me more than it does. Admittedly it does disturb me a bit. I remember my sister being grounded for a whole summer, because she and a college boy sat up playing guitars til' the wee hours of the morning. Should I think about grounding Niah? I am not my father, or my mother for that matter. Niah jumps up around 7:30AM after I go to tell Nicki what time it is, she is leaving with Drew and Kat today. He runs upstairs after me, apologizing profusely, saying he fell asleep at the end of the movie. You think? I smile at him, and say nothing. Then he picks at his seat and says he should never sleep in a dance belt. This, I tell him is information he should keep to himself.

I believe coffee is in order.