I've worked hard to establish a bedtime routine with Anna. This routine consists of giving daddy kisses good night and saying I love you, chasing each other into her bedroom and then selecting 4 or 5 books off the shelf together (most of which will be met with "NAHNAHNAH!!" in mere seconds - she's as quick to make up her mind as she is to change it!). We snuggle together in her rocking chair, reading and pointing out animals and things she knows and after we've read 3 or 4 stories, depending on how tired she is that night, I ask if I can have a "Kiss for Sweet Dreams" - a line from one of our books. And then she helps me sing "Anna's Good Night Song" sung to the tune of "Good Night, Ladies."
Good night, Anna
Good night, Anna
Good night, Anna
It's time to go to sleep
Mommy loves you, Anna
Daddy loves you, Anna
Jesus loves you, Anna
It's time to go to sleep
Most nights she willingly lays down in her bed, grabs her pacifier and musical seahorse and goes to sleep. Some nights (like tonight), she throws a tantrum. But that's how we handle bedtime.
Hubby teases me because when he's in charge, all he has to do is take her in the bedroom, put her in bed and close the door. He jokes that I only have to go through the bedtime routine because that's the standard I've set. But I remember my bedtime routine from when I was little - both my parents read to me all the time when I was small. And I want these things to stand out for her too. So if that means I have to take 20 extra minutes of my night to read a few stories (the SAME stories, OVER and OVER) and sing a song (which she now tries to sing along with), then so be it. It's one of my favorite parts of my day.
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You're a good mom Kerry and Anna will remember those moments too! Andy used to have a bedtime routine too and it always had to be me who did it because he would complain that when it came to reading "Dad doesn't do voices" so I guess technically he's right~that's the standard I set way back when. I know that John (and Andy) had the patience to do other things that I didn't so it was a good thing they(and Anna) had two parents with different strengths!
ReplyDeleteOne of my favorite times with my mom was bedtime..she read to me for years (probably up until middle school).
ReplyDeleteWe started with the standard childhood books Goodnight Moon,Eloise, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie etc...then progressed to boxcar children, the laura ingalls wilder books and a tree grows in brooklyn.
I remember I would be upset when she was out of town because my dad had the same "put me in bed and that was it" tactic.
Make sure you keep it up because they will be memories Anna will always love!....and eventually you may even be able to read Harry Potter to her :)