Bedtime Rituals

Gabe and I have a routine for bedtime every night. When it's bedtime, he gets a diaper change and his jammies. Then we put on his sleepy sack and he drinks a bottle of milk. When he finishes, he sticks the bottle in my mouth and laughs about "Mommy bottle!" After that, we brush his teeth and then he gives Daddy and Bella a hug and a kiss. Then we go to his bedroom and snuggle on the chair while I sing one hymn and then we read his prayers from his book of prayers. Then he gets a kiss and a hug and I put him in his bed. Here's where that gets interesting.

Gabe sleeps with his blanket, his bosh (pacifier), his doggie, his kanadoodoo (kangaroo), his fox and a stuffed ball. So I lay him in his bed and ask him what we need. He always asks for blanket and bosh first. Then I ask him again and he says "doggie". So I grab the doggie and let the doggie give him kisses while making a dog-kiss noise. He laughs and does the dog-kiss noise also. Then he says "what else...kanadoodoo!" So I get the kanadoodoo and say "boingy boingy" as the kanadoodoo boinces all over his body, ending on his head. Then Gabe takes the baby kanadoodoo out of his mommy's pouch and says "oh no! Mommy fix it! Gabey baby kanadoodoo snuggle mommy." So I put the baby kanadoodoo back in his mommy's pouch, only to have Gabe pull him back out again. Then I ask him what else he needs. He says "Hmm. What else. Fox!" The fox then sniffs at his cheek, which makes him giggle. Then he asks for the ball, which I balance on his head.

I ask him what else we need and he yells "Giraffe!" so I turn on the giraffe nightlight. Then he asks for the whale (my diffuser) and I tell him that Bella is going to sleep with it. Then he asks for "fuser" (the other diffuser) and I tell him no. Then I tell him goodnight and that I love him, turn off the light and leave. Sometimes he tries to throw out an "um, Mommy?" as a stall technique, but not every night.

This goes on every single night. (I love our little routine, so I'm not complaining.)

Then tonight I laid him in bed and I asked him what he needed. He said "bottle." I told him that he'd already had a bottle. Then he said "Nico shoes." (Nico's mom gave him a pair of his old shoes today and he loves them!) I told him that we don't sleep with shoes and asked him what else he needed. He said "centipede." 

Not only has he learned to stall, but he's a little tease too!