Do You Hear What I Hear?

Unfortunately, I think Judah is requiring less sleep these days. Boo. Although unpredictable, most of his naps are getting shorter than his previous 3-hour stretches. And at night when we put him down around 7:30, I hear him having a grand ol' time....laughing, talking, playing...sometimes until close to 9pm! I've thought about pushing his bedtime back, but he seems soooo tired by 7:30 and he sounds perfectly happy during his nighttime soirees, so I don't know? Any advice on this one is greatly appreciated.

One night last week, I think God knew I needed some comic relief after a long, hard day. About an hour after I put Judah to bed, I heard a high-pitched noise coming from the vicinity of his bedroom door. I ignored it at first, but then heard it a second time and just thought it was him "whoo-ing," as we like to call it. (He's always rhythmically "whoo'ed" himself to sleep like an owl...a coping strategy I believe he taught himself in Gladney's Care Center when he had to sleep with a room full of babies). The third time I heard it, it seemed higher and louder than his signature "whoo." The mystery was solved when Allie-dog jumped off the couch and barked near his door. I could not believe what I was hearing.....unmistakeably his new favorite toy...

What?! How could this be? Did he climb out of his crib?! How did he find this toy in the dark? Is the Ghost of Christmas Present in his room? Sure enough, this is what I saw when I walked into his room...

Clearly, he thought it was hilarious. Okay, so I did, too :-)

I'm assuming he put the recorder/flute in his crib earlier in the day and I just didn't see it? Needless to say, I've been doing a thorough crib-search these days before night-night time. Love. this. kid.