a snapshot

Tonight represents a fairly typical evening:

Hazel and Charlie were in bed after baths shortly after 7pm. At 8, we could still hear giggles and chatter. I went in to tell them to knock it off and go to sleep and find the room strewn with toys that had been put away as of bedtime. Charlie had also changed clothes, out of his pajamas and into a pair of his sister's leggings, in a leopard print. He joyfully declared that was a "baby cheetah". I told the baby cheetah and his twin sister to get to bed, tucked them both back in and left.

A half hour goes by. David goes in to check on the still-chattering babies. He finds a similar scene, speaks to them more firmly than I did, tucks them back in, and then waits outside the door. The door has barely closed when the banter continues. He walks in and removes Charlie's blanket and Hazel's stuffed pig, without a word, and then walks back out and waits. He overhears the following:

Hazel: Charlie, I don't have my Darnold!
(David swoops in and removes her blanket, still without a word.)
Hazel: Now I don't have my blanket!
(David silently removes her pillow.)
Hazel: Now my pillow is gone!
(David removes remainder of loveys--a smattering of stuffed dogs and the new build-a-bear cat.)
Hazel: Now I don't have ANYTHING!!

David then goes in and removes the mattress from her crib. I am not kidding. He left the kid nothing to sleep on but the choice between the carpet and the hard platform of her bed. But guess what? The stinker finally got quiet. Talk about tenacity.

Note that Charlie fell silent after his blanket was taken. Guess he wasn't willing to risk his cheetah pants.