Small humans are very strange

Especially around bedtime, when exhaustion starts to do to them what large quantities of alcohol typically do to adults. Sekkie, for example, has recently added a new quirk to the usual sleep-avoidance rituals of one last drink of water, one more visit to the toilet and one last thing to say to Dad: now we also have "just one fall out of bed, Mama you mustn't hold". Then she lines herself up carefully on the very edge of her bed and... falls out. Thud. Then she gets back in again, and a few more tosses and turns later is fast asleep.

That's always assuming, of course, that her big sister in the top bunk doesn't suddenly burst into loud song as she did tonight: "OOOOHHHHH, the big brown bear is a bouncy, bouncy, bear!!!" With appropriate bouncing actions.

This is one of those times when parents congratulate themselves for not actually physically assaulting their children. Then, half an hour later when they go in and get all sentimental about the beauty of a sleeping child, they really, truly appreciate quite how beautiful it is.