Shhhhh...

What is a home without children?

Quiet.

                      - Henny Youngman   

I don't know what was going on on Saturday, but there was something in the air or in the water.  Neither of my children napped, and then both passed out hours before their normal bedtime and slept through the night.  Josie fell asleep at 4:15 in the afternoon.  Zeke followed at about 6:30.  

He had been playing hard all day, started to melt down, and said, "Mama, I need a nap."  I was dubious -- he has a tendency to get exhausted and then spring back to life after chilling out for half an hour.  Plus no one needs a toddler to get a couple of hours of sleep and then wake up all chirpy at 9 at night.  So I said, "why don't you just relax for a little while?  Would you like to sit in my bed and watch The Jungle Book?"  "Yes, please."

He was asleep within 5 minutes.

And that was it.

Jason and I kept checking in on them, waiting for the other shoe to drop, or for one of them to wake up full of energy, but it never happened.

I finished my book.  I made some dinner.  We cleaned the kitchen.  I put away some of Zeke's toys and books.  We watched a movie (Up in the Air, which we've had sitting on our TV stand for weeks but never quite had the opportunity to pop into the DVD player).  

The time do get some things done, without chasing after or entertaining children, was kind of nice.  But the quiet was unnerving.  It felt weird.

"Can you imagine life without the children anymore?" Jason asked.  He was as weirded out as I was.

And as much as I talk about the frequent need for time to myself, and of looking back with longing on my days of being single and childless...

the answer was unequivocally, "no."