Night night

Just some small details of our nightly routine, so when I'm missing my babies, I'll be able to remember exactly what it was like when they were little :)

After bath and they get PJ'd up, we usually spend a few minutes as a family playing together.  These are some of the best times of the day.  The kids almost always get along.  They mostly play side-by-side, but they are starting to interact more.  Andy will take things to Elizabeth for her to play with.  Elizabeth does her own thing, occassionally bringing something over for Mama and Dada to help with.  We play together for awhile and then its off to their separate corners. 

Elizabeth, let's face it, has always been a challenging sleeper.  This girl has gone from needing to be held (only by Mama) to sleep to pointing to her bed because she's ready to get in it.  She's recently become a big fan of books, so we sit in the rocking chair and we read a few books before night night.  This gives her a good opportunity to practice her animal sounds.  Not surprisingly, she's particular about the books we read.  If I pick one she's not especially excited about, she slaps it closed and grunts in the direction of the other books.  I know I've found a good one when she lays back on my chest and I've really hit the jackpot if she starts rocking, to get me into action.  So we rock and read.  But as soon as I put the last book away, she stops being snuggly.  She refuses to let me rock her for even a second.  She'll point at her bed and stiffen up that little body.  So into her bed she goes!  Along with her assortment of pacis, blankies and other sundries.  We turn her birds, music and sound machine on, and she rolls around with her blankie, drinks a cup of water, and off to sleep she goes.  To wake up once or twice most  nights ... but at least the getting to sleep is easy these days.

And Andy.  Andy likes to play in his room before night-night.  With Mama or Dada.  Its usually Dada as Mama has Sitty detail most nights.  So we play and then climb into his bed to read a book and say bedtime prayers.  Andy never wants to pray outloud, although every now and then, he has a request or addition.  Recently, he's wanted to thank Jesus for a purple hummingbird.  No, I don't know where he's seen a hummingbird, let alone a purple one.  But he was very insistent that we include it.  He'll have one or two or ten more requests before I can actually make it out the room.  He's learning the art of stalling.  Usually we say night-night about 45 times as I walk out the door, close the door and make it down the hallway.

And as much as I love them, many a day there's a big sigh of relief when they are in bed.