In the middle of the night...

Alexander is in the habit of waking up in the middle of the night for no other reason other than to check on things and get a little extra love. He routinely gets up around midnight just to say hi before putting himself back to bed. I've been "dealing" with it for months now, since my "office" is on the same floor as his bedroom. Not that it's a difficult thing to deal with; in fact, it's rather cute and endearing. 

A few nights ago he stumbled into my room to tell me a joke.

"What's up, buddy?" I asked.

Usually all he wants is a hug but on this particular evening he said, "I have a joke."

"You have...a joke?" I asked. 

"Yes. Why did the sheep cross the road?"

"I don't know," I said. "Why?"

"To get to the baaaaarber shop," he said.

I gave him a little chuckle. It was a good joke.

"That's all," he said. "Good night." 

"Good night," I said and with that he turned around and put himself back to bed. 

So, you see, it isn't particularly difficult to deal with Alexander in the middle of the night. 

Andrew, however, complicated things somewhat when he happened to be in our bedroom (which is where my "office" is) around midnight the other night (we are in the habit of going to bed late; working from home during a pandemic means that working hours trail into the night because we're so often distracted by family matters during daytime hours). Alexander came into our room, as he's wont to do.

"What do you need, buddy?" Andrew asked.

In response Alexander simply ran to Andrew with his arms outstretched and gave him a great big hug. 

"Good night," Alexander said.

"You just came to give me a hug?" Andrew asked.

"Yes. Good night."

And with that Alexander was gone.

The next morning Andrew told everyone about how Alexander had come to give him a hug in the middle of the night, emphasizing how cute it was. 

And it was cute!

But...

The next night, Alexander was sure to bust into our room several times to give Daddy a hug...even though Daddy was sleeping. Phoebe and I weren't because, well, that's not what nighttime is for these days. That's what daytime is for, at least according to Phoebe (which really is a problem but, so far, not a problem we've been able to fix...and not for lack of trying; she simply won't stay awake during the day and won't sleep between 11 and 4). 

Anyway, each time Alexander came in I told him that Daddy was sleeping, but he'd run across the room with his arms stretched out wide to hug Daddy's sleeping body. Over and over again Alexander would fling our door open, hug Andrew, and then scamper off to bed.

The next night when he woke up, Andrew was still downstairs in his office (which is actually an office) so Alexander came to hug me instead, but he said, "I was really hoping to hug Daddy." And just his luck, Daddy came up the stairs soon after so he went to tuck Alexander back into bed.

Tonight, Alexander seemed content to give me a hug and Phoebe a kiss before getting back into bed and he's only come in that one time, so I think he might be back to his once-a-night waking...