Scarlett and I have the sweetest bedtime routine in the whole world. Its evolved quite a bit over her sweet almost 4 years of life into something I cherish very much. She was never the type of baby you could just put to sleep easily. I swaddled her for EIGHT months. Call me crazy but it was the only way to keep her asleep. To this very day she still flails and flip flops all night long. Her bed rail will probably be installed until middle school. If she wasn't swaddled snug as a bug she would literally wake herself up every 30 minutes and of course I was a paranoid new mom so I wanted to punch any one who suggested I "just lay her on her stomach." Much to those people's dismay, all those months of swaddling (no clue if I'm spelling that right. Or if its even a word) did not give my baby girl a complex about sleeping in some sort of cacoon. Although, now that I think about it she NEVER sleeps on her stomach. Anyway, thats not the point of this post at all....
When she finally started sleeping with out the baby straight jacket, our bedtime routine turned into a fairly lengthy process. I struggled with this because everything I read about baby bedtime said to leave them in the crib and basically figure out how to go to sleep by themselves. Although i did use the cry it out method to get rid of her binky (which worked like a charm by the way) i wasnt down with just making her cry herself to sleep because mommy needed to go have a glass of wine on the couch. So we started a little routine. I didnt have a rocker in her room, so I held her in my arms and we would just sway and sway and sing and sing until her eyes got sleepy. Right before she fell asleep I would put her in her crib on her side and rub her back till she fell asleep. If I tried to creep out before she was totally asleep we had to start all over. I admit, some nights I was not a fan, but looking back its just the sweetest memory I have of her as a teeny tiny thing.
When it was finally time to transition to a big girl bed, our routine stayed pretty much the same except it lasted much much longer. Putting her to bed became so impossible that she started staying up way too late and there was even a brief stint where I threw my hands in the air and let her sleep with me. Well, remember before -- about her flailing and flip flopping? Yeah, all up in my face. Somehow my tiny two foot nothing two year old took over my entire queen size bed. She also fell out of the bed on regular occasion and I literally slept with one eye open fearing she was going to concuss herself. Even with 90 pillows (or so) surrounding the floor below just in case, I couldn't handle it. So began the much extended version of what we do now...
Scarlett moved back into her room and I waited until she was delirious with tiredness to put her down. I read her a very quick and much abbreviated version of a book, turned off the lights and laid with her. With out fail, EVERY night, this is when the giggles would start! As soon as the lights were off and i thought she was well on her way to la-la land...giggles! No, I didnt have a child who was afraid of the dark, monsters, or even just a straight up defiant one who refused to sleep. I had one who wanted me to lay with her, sing to her, scratch her back, take pictures with my phone of her and her stuffed animals and just be silly with her. I could have been tough and said no, but with out a doubt I would cave to this goofy child every night. I am so thankful for that time of her babyhood because I know one day she's going to lock herself in her room for hours and cringe when I try to kiss her goodnight. But i will always keep these ridiculous, fun, sleep deprived memories close to my heart forever.
Now with school and dance 3 out of 5 mornings, her late bed times are few and far between. (8 o'clock hallelujah!) She still procrastinates like you wouldn't believe, but for the most part its easy breezy. We still read a book, I lay with her for a few minutes, ALWAYS have to scratch her back (literally she asks me to do it like clock work) and then she tries to get me to stay and just have a little chit chat with her by telling me "the funniest thing ever" that happened to her that day or asking me a million questions about what we're doing tomorrow...like, so mom, what should I wear to school tomorrow? Do I go to dance tomorrow? Can we go to the pool tomorrow? (No child its still March!) Do I see Carson tomorrow? And on and on till finally we do our "secret kiss" goodnight and that's when I leave. When she's feeling extra pushy she will wait until I shut the door to tell me she has to either one go potty, two needs some water, or three wants another stuffed animal. I've learned to just go with it. This is how she rolls, I've let her be this way for so long that there's no breaking this habit now. Yes, some nights I think man I wish this was a quicker process, but honestly I would be so sad if she ever just said "k, night mom" and went to bed like no big deal.
This whole post, which was definitely not supposed to be so very long winded!, was inspired by me looking through my phone pictures and all the silly ones of her and I at bedtime. I never posted them because with out this very grand explanation of our nightly rituals people might think Im crazy. Ha, might... enjoy that one with me and the zit cream, its a personal fave ;)
