A bedtime I want to remember

Bedtime usually isn't the nightmare for us that I hear about in other households.  Generally we tell the girls it's time for night night and they grab their bears and head into their room.  Then they run around their room a little bit playing with each other while I sing the night night song and it's into cribs with very little fuss or muss. Then we hear them chatter away, sometimes singing little songs, sometimes light giggles, sometimes they're jumping in their cribs laughing hysterically for quite a while before they actually go to sleep. Benefit of twins I guess.  When every night is a slumber party with your best friend, it ain't so bad being put to bed.

But what it hasn't been for a while is a chance to snuggle.  Once they started firmly and confidently walking, they've wanted to run around their bedroom in that one short window they get to be in there*.  Bedtime became a fun time rather than a quiet time.  Sometimes this is awesome, it's lead to some of the biggest laughter in our household, but I still miss the quiet snuggles.

Tonight, I got my snuggles.  Not sure why and I don't care.  But after I got them into sleep sacks, Teeny Tiny wanted to lay on my chest on her back like she used to while we rocked, and I held out an arm for Middie Biddie and she came running into it so I could scoop her up and she could lay on my other side.  I had no idea if they would let me get through the whole song before sliding off my lap to start running around, but they did.  And then they both just stayed there while we rocked.  Middie Biddie sometimes half closing her eyes.  We rocked for a while before I finally said it was time to go night night and put them in their cribs.

Don't know how the rest of the night is going to go.  I'm hearing some singing at the moment.  Might get an explosion of tears later, might turn into a party, might just quietly fade out until asleep over the next hour.  Don't care.  I got good snuggles and all I had to do to get them was be available to receive them.  The very best kind.

*They only sleep in their bedroom and the door is closed all the time.  There are 2 reasons for this-

1)  I want that room to be associated with sleep rather than play to make it easier later.  That's what I want even if that's not what's been happening lately.  If there are toys in there and they are allowed to use that room as a playroom during the day, I don't know how they'll ever get to sleep.

2)  It's the last room in the house with carpet and we kept that door closed the entire time we've lived here to keep the cats out.  It's the only room in this house that hasn't been peed in by cats and I'm determined to keep it untainted.