Testing, One, Two, Three... June 27, 2008

Last night we decided to do a camping test run in our backyard with Noah.  Really I just wanted to test out the sleeping pad that I finally got and that I've been wanting for years.  Chris and I are going on the Pioneer Trek in a few weeks, so I felt like I could finally justify buying it for myself.  I'm picky about my sleep.  Sleeping is more important to me than just about anything else - at least it feels that way sometimes!  Most of the time I can pretty much sleep anywhere but last time I went camping I slept on Chris' old sleeping pad that is pretty much broken and doesn't give you any padding from the rocks and the dirt and I was pretty much miserable.  All night long I would have dreams that I was in REI buying a new sleeping pad and how great it felt to sleep on.  Then I would wake up, realize how uncomfortable I was, fall back asleep, and start the REI dream all over again.  It's kind of like when you're sleeping and you're really thirsty so you keep dreaming that you get a drink, but somehow it doesn't help you feel better and so you dream it again until finally you wake up and go downstairs to get a drink.

Noah and I had lots of fun setting up the tent in our backyard last night.  He liked helping me pull everything out of the sacks and when the tent got set up he was really impressed.  We set up all of our sleeping bags in there, got his blankies, played in there together...just had a great time.  It started to get dark and then came the time for us to go to bed.  Here's pretty much how it went:

Daddy:  "Noah, lie down and go to sleep!"

Mommy:  "We'll just ignore him for 5 minutes and then hopefully he'll get bored and go to sleep."

Noah:  Laughing, squealing, giggling, trying to be as silly as possible and jumping on top of Mommy and Daddy while we try to pretend we're asleep.

Mommy: Giggle, giggle, giggle, "Ok.  I'll be asleep now.  Sorry!"

Noah:  "Grrr!  I'm a dinosaur!"  Stomp, stomp, stomp all over his parents.

Mommy:  Giggle, giggle, giggle.  Trying to sound firm and like serious business, "Noah!  Lie down!  It's time to go to sleep!" Giggle, giggle.

Daddy:  "Noah, if you don't lie down and go to sleep we're going to have to go sleep inside in our beds.  No more camping."

Noah:  Jumping down into his sleeping bag as fast as possible to give the impression that he was already on his way there before Daddy told him to lie down.  "Ok, ok."  A second later, "Honk, shooooo!" (fake snoring sound).  A second later, "I see!  I see!  I see!".  Noah's climbing all over me again trying to unzip the window in the tent and look outside.

Mommy: Giggle, giggle, giggle.  "Ouch, Noah!  That hurts when you step on me!"

Daddy:  "I thought we were pretending we were asleep?  Noah?  Do you want to go inside?  If you don't lie down, we're going inside to sleep!"

You get the picture.  After half an hour of that, we decided Noah wasn't going to sleep.  (He has the hardest time winding down his little body if there are any distractions.  He's never been able to sleep with us because of that.  He just can't keep his body still enough to fall asleep if there is anything or anyone else there to play with.)  Sure enough, he was asleep less than five minutes later after we put him in his bed.  In fact, we didn't hear one little sound out of him after we shut his door.  Amazing how that works!