Who needs sleep anyway?

As I was commiserating just the other day, Andy and I don't really get the chance to go out in the evenings as we haven't found a babysitter. Deepa is prepared to come sometimes but likes to leave by half nine, so it's hardly a rock n roll night out for us. Anyway, an English/Swedish couple that we recently met invited us to a party last night and we thought we'd ask Deepa to stay the whole night so she didn't have to worry about getting home late. We offered her a good sum of money and she said she'd do it. After the last occasion Deepa babysat, we came home to a bit of a surprise (click here to see) but we really needed a night out and it was a much better idea asking her to stay over rather than be constantly clock-watching to get home. Or so we thought.....

Before we left, in light of what happened last time, we asked Deepa firstly that the girls should go to bed at around 7.30 and secondly for her not to feed them chocolate. But they'll ask for it, Deepa responded. Hmmm....the phrase 'Doesn't mean you have to give it to them' doesn't really work here. I turned to Maya and reiterated that she shouldn't ask for chocolate, to which she responded with an enormous toothy grin and said 'I won't!' in the most unconvincing voice I'd ever heard. No matter, we thought, we were just looking forward to our night out and duly escaped.

Anyway, the bar was fun, the party was great and when we got back at around half midnight can you imagine our surprise when we opened the door to our apartment only to find all the lights on and Deepa...AND her husband...AND her two boys (aged 2 & 5) all fast asleep on the floor!!! We just stared at them all, comatosed on the floor, completely flabbergasted! After turning the lights off and going into our room, Andy and I dissolved into laughter. The poor things, it didn't look very comfortable as we'd only provided one mattress but they didn't seem too bothered by this. We had a good old chuckle, that is, until Deepa's two year old had a barney in the middle of the night...and then her kids were awake at stupid-a-clock this morning, tearing around the sitting room on the scooter. Grrrrrr!

When Maya surfaced a bit later she came into see us and proudly announced that she hadn't asked for chocolates. Well done Maya, I said groggily. No, she continued, no chocolate. But I did ask for biscuits! Ah well, you can't blame a kid for trying. After Deepa et famille had left and the day progressed, it became quite clear that Maya and Lily were rather tired to put it mildly. Lily actually fell asleep mid-mouthful at lunch and I had to hold her head back so her face wouldn't fall into the palak aloo. Here's the thing: I'm sure that Deepa honestly thinks I'm joking when I say that the girls need to go to bed at half seven. I mean, which parents in their right mind would be so cruel and strange to put their children to bed so early? After all, that's when all the fun happens - after dark. Bearing in mind that she often tells me her own kids go to bed around eleven (the same time as her), I have more than a hunch that Maya and Lily didn't go to bed anywhere close to seven thirty, particularly as her boys came into join the fun and there were far too many Charlie & Lola episodes to watch, balloons to play with and scooter races to be had. Yeah. Who needs sleep anyway?

Needless to say, Maya had passed out by 6pm this evening.