Sunday, December 12, 2010

bedtime routine

this is one of those things i'm blogging about to remember! jack is growing up so fast -- though this is our current routine, i know it'll change again, so i thought i'd better get it down now. it's only a few minutes, but it's so precious to the three of us...

we have created a bad habit of watching a little star trek before heading into jack's room. i know it's dorky, but pete's a bit of a dork. and, apparently, i am too as i don't mind watching the enterprise on their research missions and often admire the make-up necessary to pull off all the 'races' from those around the universe. after a little trek action, we head into jack's room. we say goodnight to mommy's clock (1st anniversary present from pg), goodnight to the other clock (oven) and the rooster. we say good night to the decorations (always changing), the lady, and the letter G. we bid goodnight to a picture of baby jack.

after laying the little man in this:
we sing songs. 1st up is daddy with camping songs (boyscout songs of his youth). they are followed with 'goodnight, son', 'goodnight, daddy', and i love yous.

then it's my turn. i sing the following, every night, in this order, or i receive protests:
humpty-dumpty
you are my sunshine
baa-baa black sheep
itsy-bitsy spider
twinkle, twinkle little star

abc's
we-willy-winky


my songs are followed with 'sleep well, jack', 'sleep well, mommy', 'love you!' i've learned that once i hear the 'sleep well, mommy' we're good to go for the night. if i don't get that, whether now or later, he'll be up. 'don't want to take a rest' or 'feel better' or 'it's up time' and my fave 'cuddle me 5 more minutes' will come out of his mouth at least once. this 'i feel better' business cracks me up - i couldn't for the life of me remember why he said this until right. now. we usually say he'll feel better or great after a midday nap - especially when he's grumpy - he must've translated that to bedtime! cute.

our transition to the bbb was fabulous, then we hit a rocky patch of jack getting up a TON. now we're going ok, with a few nights of waking up, then a few with silence. naps are slowly going away (biggest sigh ever), but that allows for longer outings and more cuddle time (resting reading or watching a show or brief movie = downtime for me too), but also creates some drama in the evening and doesn't give me any time to be jen or clean or blog or do anything that's easier/faster/quieter/cleaner without a toddler helping.

sometimes i encourage him to take a little rest in here. he calls it his doghouse ;):

3 comments:

Leslie said...

It'd be super amusing if Pete had to sleep in that tent once in awhile! Haha!

Leslie said...

Jack-jack is growing up so quickly!

lauren and brad said...

what a treasure this post is!

*sigh* for losing the nap. so sad. ben is dropping them quickly too. still get maybe one a week if I run his tail off all morning. :)

his room is so cute! (as is his doghouse!)