@berk60 Had a similar moment the other night with my 2 year old. Had been on the road all weekend and came back, wife had plans, toddler wouldn't nap until she crashed in the living room at 7 pm. So I get my 1 year old to sleep in that time, and around 10 pm 2yo wakes up. Usually I'd be hard pressed to keep her quiet for the 1yo but for whatever reason she finally found her inside voice.
So instead of setting her back up to go to bed, we hung out in the living room, played with blocks and books. Reheated some pizza, she thought she was super cool for getting a sip of my soda lol. Then we had some popcorn and settled in for a movie. Any other day she would be assaulting me with "come on dad" to follow her to this or that thing every 2 seconds, regardless of if she actually had a destination in mind. For whatever reason she was the perfect combination of quiet and still.
The hardest part is normally shes still in full toddler mode about things, she asks for something and then screams the entire time you get it for her. That night, I think I witnessed the next step in her mental development. She came out of nowhere with little full sentences, understood what I was asking her, and waited patiently for the return. "Hey Abby, are you hungry for pizza?" *tiny whisper yell gasp: "Pizza?? Ok daddy! Tome on!"
Might not have been a core memory per se, but it was cool to witness a little moment of growth in the wild. And as tired as I was, I'm really glad I didn't put her back to bed.
Stay blessed Dads