Caffeinated kids...

...I had two, earlier.

I dislike instant coffee.  I dislike cappuccino.  One of my aunts gave me a bunch single-serve packets of instant flavored cappuccino for Christmas.  I had it bagged up and sitting somewhere I thought was out of the reach of small, clever fingers.

I was wrong.

I'm sure you can see where this is going.

Next thing I know, the imp and pixie are playing.  Loudly.  But happily.  Shrieking giggles and their silly little version of Marco Polo ("Diadur...where are you?"  "Diadur...I here!"). 

Then, it got louder.  And the imp came running out of his sister's room.  He stood at my elbow, bouncing (practically vibrating), and told me "We made mess in Pixie's room!" 

I thought it was toys scattered.  I was wrong.

'Bout that time, it was getting on toward bath time, and the  pixie comes running screeching out, and climbs up in my lap, and then gets down.  Stands next to me, then collapses giggling on the floor.  "I fall down!" 

Then, I smelled something.  I asked if she was stinky, or if she just farted, and she replied "I part." 

No...she hadn't.  I got her to go into her room, and found the boxes of instant cappuccino scattered all over her floor.  Several were shredded.  A light tan powder lightly coated her rocker-recliner.

And then I realized.  The mess?  Not toys.  They'd apparently eaten at least one packet of the instant cappuccino.  Maybe two.  Because there were nine, I drank one (desperation, and optimism), and I could only find six. 

The kids were doing their pinball impression because they'd eaten quite a bit of coffee powder and sugar. 

I got the pixie cleaned up, and both of them bathed (and by this point, they'd been bouncing around for a bit more than an hour), then got them out and tried to get them started settling.  No joy.

Although, the pixie did crash pretty much at her normal bedtime (after filling another diaper...did you know that instant cappuccino powder did that to a toddler?), with a little bit of a belly ache.  The imp took a bit longer. 

By the time he went down, there was no way I was starting a nearly-two-hour movie. 

I think I'm going to go to bed, now that the gibbering exhaustion from trying to get two hyper small children bathed, into pajamas, and settled toward bedtime has faded into a less painful fugue state.

Although, I will admit...the kids were quite funny all hyped up like that.  They got along better than they usually do.