For an utterly normal Friday, today was pretty busy for us. Work kept me a little bit late, and then Olive wanted to go out and play with me. We spent some time at the playground, which was good, because supper took longer to prep than normal. After eating, Olive and I made some jello for her to enjoy tomorrow, and then settled down on the couch; as it's a Friday evening, she gets to pick a movie to watch. We browsed for almost 20 minutes, at which point she told me: "Daddy, only one movie will be OK." Bowing to the inevitable, I started up Cars. It was 19:20 or so by that point.

I'll be honest: her tolerance for repetition of this movie is significantly higher than my own. I didn't attempt to be subtle; I took a nap on the couch while she watched the film. Something less than an hour later, I had to roll over; the Porsche was just taking the protagonist for a romantic drive in the mountains. At that point, however, things took an unexpected turn: Olive, who'd been paying complete attention to the movie, decided that enough was enough. She just kind of closed her eyes and cuddled into me.

Granted, it was a bit later than her typical bedtime, but still: it's been literally years since Olive cuddled into me to fall asleep. It was a common occurence when she was an infant, and then it just... tailed off. We eventually settled into a good, workable bedtime routine, and I wasn't the one with whom she fell aslep.

Tonight, however, we reverted to the old patterns. I let her snooze on my chest for a few minutes, then heaved myself vertical, holding her. Brought her to her high bed. No point in PJs for a kid as tired as this. Still, it is not physically possible for me to lie her down in her bed on my own. Put her feet on the ladder, and whispered: "Come on, kiddo: you've got to get into bed." She was utterly compliant: woke just enough to climb into bed and pull the covers over herself, then closed her eyes again.

I don't know. Maybe this isn't anything special, viewed from the outside. However, from my perspective, it brought Many Feels: my girl is simultaneously big enough to wake just a little and settle herself into bed, but small enough that she chose to fall asleep on my chest first.

There aren't many perfect evenings, but I think this one may qualify.