Bedtime and Chinese Food

Michael and I had the secret plan to put the children to sleep and then eat Chinese food tonight.  For some reason, neither child was complying.  I took Aggie in to her room at 6 pm, when she's normally exhausted, and she was still wide-eyed and smiling.  We had a wonderful 15 minutes or so of cuddling, laughing, chewing on my shoulder, looking out the window at the street lights, scratching her fingernails on the fabric and noticing the sound, and so on. Finally, I just put her in her crib, still awake but calm and happy.  I listened to her on the monitor-- she made a few sounds, and then went to sleep.  Miracle baby!  

Meanwhile, while he was having his pre-bed movie time (tonight: Finding Nemo), Henry noticed Michael looking at the take-out menu.  "What are you looking at, Daddy?"  "I'm just reading."  "Are we getting some Chinese food?"  A few minutes later he asked me, "Where's Daddy going?"  "Is he going somewhere?" I asked, not so innocently.  "Yeah, he is!  He's putting on his outside shoes! I want to go with him!"  Then, getting down on the floor and looking right into Michael's eyes, so he couldn't lie, he said, "Where are you going, Silly-Bun?" 

So the jig was up, and Michael took Henry in his pjs to the Chinese restaurant to pick up our food.  Henry was giddy with the excitement of this unusual departure from bedtime ritual. He wanted some of everything and ate hot and sour soup, rice, and broccoli in garlic sauce. And then-- as he likes to say it-- "Straight to bed!"