Parents Not Invited

We generally put Leah and Riley to bed sometime around 7:15 at night. Generally at this point of the night, they're grumpy, they're rubbing their eyes, Leah's sucking her thumb, Riley's whining - all signs point to the fact that, dammit, it's time for bed. So at 7:15, we put Leah and Riley in their cribs and close the door. But usually, that's not the end of the story. If you sat outside the door for the next half hour and just listened, here's what you would typically hear:

• 7:15 pm -- Leah cries for 20 seconds.

• 7:15:20-7:25 pm - (Silence)

• 7:25 pm - Riley giggles.

• 7:25-7:30 pm - (Silence)

• 7:30 pm - Leah giggles.

• 7:30-7:32 pm - (Silence)

• 7:32-7:35 pm - Riley does a three-minute stream-of-consciousness monologue, in a sing-songy, nursery-rhymey voice.

• 7:35 pm - Leah giggles.

• 7:35-7:38 pm - Leah does her own three-minute stream-of-consciousness monologue.

• 7:38 pm - Riley giggles.

• 7:38-7:45 pm - Riley and Leah talk and laugh like the best of friends, like gossiping suburban housewives chatting by the white picket fence, making fun of their husbands. Occasional squeals of delight and amusement emanate from the room.

• 7:45 pm - Room goes silent. Girls, apparently pooped out from their little 7-minute party, are asleep.

I know, it sounds like the most boring episode of "24" ever.

Anyway, basically there's this very exclusive 7-minute party every night that mommy and daddy aren't invited to. We can't even watch it, because if we dare open the door and poke our heads inside, the spell will instantly be broken, and Leah will start crying for mommy to pick her up.

And of course, Leah and Riley never get along this well in the light of day, because during the day, they're always stepping on each other, crawling over each other, running each other over with their walkers, or stealing each other's toys or books or food or milk or pacifiers. Or biting each other. Or pulling each other's hair. Should I go on? Anyway, the point is, these 7 minutes are special times indeed.

So, on the one hand, it's exciting to know that the much-anticipated twin bonding thing is actually happening, but on the other hand, it's only happening for seven minutes a day, and it happens in the dark, and we don't get to actually witness it happening.

Meh.

I've said it before and I guess I'll say it again -- we take whatever we can get.