When the Lights Are Out

The other day, Matt and I realized it was probably time to move Nathan's crib mattress down a level. He's never shown any signs of pulling up on the side or any other dangerous activities, but he is definitely at that age when it could start happening at any moment. We'd rather be proactive about it than discover just too late that we should have already taken care of this task.

When we put his bed back together, we debated about whether to put his crib bumper back in. Patrick has recently decided it's just another of his toys, and we've found it draped around the room several times lately. To preserve our own sanity, we made the decision to see how Nathan did without it.

At first, he seemed to be a little confused. "Why can I suddenly see out of my crib, and not just what's above it?" Then he settled in; he seemed to like the new view.

Patrick did too. He also seemed quite curious about the new look to Nathan's crib, inspecting it even before we left the room for the night. Still, Matt and I left to let the two of them get used to the change, expecting the worst.

I was surprised when I didn't immediately hear cries behind me. I shrugged in the silence and went in the other room to play on the computer. About ten minutes later, I needed to do something right outside their room. When I got there, I heard a weird noise.

"Is that Nathan crying?" I wondered. It sounded like his voice, but it wasn't quite a typical cry. "Oh, no. I get it now. Patrick's laughing." I could only imagine the kind of torment he was inflicting on his brother that would cause him to laugh that mischievous laugh. I had pictures in my mind of Patrick poking at his brother through the slats and pulling his blankie away from him and who even knows what other mischief he could devise.

Then I heard it again and knew the sound for what it was: Nathan's laughter. It was the wildest, most hilarious laughter I have ever heard out of this perpetually happy baby. Between two crazy laughs, I heard another quieter sound. This time it was Patrick's voice. He was talking to Nathan in a sweet but silly voice.

My two boys were having an impromptu slumber party in their room, reminiscent of the late-night chattering my sister and I would do from time to time when we were young. The two were having such a grand time that I didn't want to interrupt them, even though they needed to sleep and it was probably my duty to put an end to the fun. (That's what mommies do, right?)

Instead, I called Matt to come listen as well. We practically melted as we listened to our boys interacting with each other and entertaining each other. It's a sound that I'm sure will become irritating as they grow older and we are forced to put an end to on a regular basis to ensure they get enough sleep, but for this one night, we revelled in the noise.

It's nice to have proof that our boys do love each other after all. For now.