For the past few days, we’ve had some of the kids’ friends staying with us. It’s been a ton of fun, but getting to bed at a reasonable hour has proved to be fairly challenging.

On the first night, after we finally got everyone in bed, my wife and I split up. I took the room with two boys: my youngest and his friend.

“Okay guys,” I said. “I’m afraid you got the short end of the stick.”

“What do you mean?” our guest asked.

“Well,” I said, tucking them in and straightening the covers. “You got me.” I straightened and walked to the door. “If my wife were here, you’d get sweet lullabies and gentle talk, maybe even a hug.”

“Eeww,” he said.

“But you got me. And I’m the master of the shortest lullaby in the world.”

“What’s that?”

I saw my youngest pull the covers over his head to hide his giggling.

“AAAHH!” I shouted “GO TO SLEEP!”

Our guest started to giggle. “What?” he said. “You can’t – ”

“AAAH! SLEEP NOW! AAAHH!”

The laughs bubbled out from deep in his belly. He looked over at my son, who had peeked his head out and was trying his best not to giggle. Seeing each other broke open the dam. They laughed so hard that soon they were red-faced and exhausted.

“AAAH! NO LAUGH! SLEEP!”

I turned on the bedtime music, turned off the light, and left. When I checked on them a few minutes later, they were both sound asleep.

[In case you’re wondering, this is how my youngest knew what was coming.]