Bedtime Routines

Our kids have always been good sleepers, and frankly the evenings in our house after 8pm are usually quite relaxing. Jess and I feel that was by design, a lot more nurture than nature, and it is working for us. The bedtime routine has changed over the years as well. When Hugh was just a baby, and even through when Miah was a toddler, our routine would be to read a book, say a prayer, sing a sing and get them to bed. Some details have changed, but it has been mostly the same.

When the kids were babies, our books were those five-page baby books, they were always about colors or shapes or had different materials on some of the pictures. The books progressed to some type of story, and Hugh's absolute favorite for a long time was a lift-the-flap book called "Where's Spot?" We read some kid devotionals for a while, some bible or bible stories/songs with toddlers in mind, and Dr. Seuss is still a favorite to read. (Especially some of his lesser known titles like, "If I Ran the Zoo", "I Had Trouble In Getting to Solla Sollew" and, if you are ambition, "Oh Say Can You Say?"). We also borrow many, many!, books from the library and most nights we read two, which are usually too short for the kid's liking ; )

Before our kids would talk, we would pray over them that great blessing, adding the Trinitarian formula to the end. Once they could talk a bit more, we would pray for our family and each other and general things. "Thank God for something that happened today," we'd say. There were some stretches where the kids would just say the same thing for a while, which was sweet at first, but sounded too routine, so we had to keep mixing it up! These days we pray for whatever in on our heart, and try to pray for someone that we saw during the day and "pray something nice for them." 

Our babies heard a lot of the songs, Arrorro Me Ne Na, which has Spanish words, Jesus Loves Me, and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. When Hugh started pre-school and Miah was little, I recall a lot of Wheels on the Bus and a couple rounds of Down By the Bay. For a few weeks we learned the words and motions to Princess Pat, a fun, camp song. The routine does not include songs right now, I wonder if we will sing them again at night time? 

Then I carry them to bed! I don't recall when we started this, but once we finish reading and praying on mommy and daddy's bed, the kids want to get carried to their bed somehow. Piggy back rides, Super Man flying, upside down by the ankle, and their latest creation, The Pickle. (For those wanting to try this at home, the kids lay on their backs with their heads toward me. I grab an ankle, they lock fingers at my forearm, and away we go!). Getting the kids to bed is sometimes half the fun : ) Almost immediately after getting tucked in, and kissed good night, and hugged, and tucking in stuffed animals, and turning on night lights, and saying good night, is when many things are remembered like going potty, getting a drink of water, where the other stuffed animal is, getting re-tucked in, looking at a book and saying good night again. That was a run-on sentence to capture the how endless this phase of bedtime sometimes feels. 

I bet this will change as we all grow up, so I did not want to forget some of the little things that made even bedtimes special : )