Bedtime

...is crazy time at our house. The closest I have come to making this a smooth and somewhat enjoyable time of day is starting in the afternoon and implementing our current multi-step routine aimed at wearing out and winding down a certain three year old who simply refuses to go to bed quietly. Most days it feels more like some kind of tactical battle plan and less like an afternoon, and even then we're working with about a 50% success rate. =)

We play outside when the weather is nice (which it has been lately, THANK GOODNESS) from whenever we get home from stuff until about 6, when we come inside and eat the dinner that either 1) has been prepared earlier in the day via crockpot or amazing planning 2) is leftovers or 3) takes less than 15 minutes to cook. Think monkey cheese and peas with hot dogs or minute rice with canned beans and steam-bag green beans.

After dinner we take baths. This takes approximately 10 minutes and more often than not involves the kids being hosed off in the shower because that is quicker and doesn't involve me getting splashed repeatedly by a certain three year old who I swear is part dolphin. We brush teeth in shifts to avoid the bickering that sends me right over the edge of sanity and reason.

Then we do stretches to peaceful music and deep breathing exercises. I must be present for this activity because if I leave for any amount of time, stretching turns into tumbling, and since neither one of our girls are particularly gifted gymnasts, someone inevitably takes a heel to the face and that's the end of peacefulness. This gives us a great chance to wind down. On the nights it works, it's amazing. The kids teach eachother the names for the stretches and we note how much progress they're making. I love the nights it works! It's calm and lovely and I don't end up questioning my parenting skills (quite as much).

Then books. A chapter of Carly's book (right now it's Heidi) and a book for Bree. Sometimes Carly wants to read a second chapter aloud to me and so we do that while Bree flips through her books. Then...

...the dreaded lights out. My stomach is in knots as I go downstairs, because this could go one way or the other.

One, our six hours of prep and careful maneuvering have resulted in relaxed and sleepy kids who go right to sleep and sleep through the night. Yay!!!

The Other: within ten minutes, someone is crying about something. Then Bree comes out with a thinly veiled request from Carly. They can't decide whether to have the hall door open or shut. Or how wide the closet door should be open. Or someone is hungry, or thirsty, or scared...or any of the other myriad excuses kids throughout the ages have thought up to get OUT of their beds. This week, everyone's belly is hurting and they want to sleep in my bed. (I knew that was a bad idea!) Also, they miss Daddy and want to know why I let him go away for two weeks. They finally pass out from exhaustion anywhere from one hour (tonight) to three hours (yesterday) past the time they went to bed. The books, or maybe it was SuperNanny, tell us to take the kid back to his or her room without talking or making eye contact and that will work. Let me tell you this - if you ever have the pleasure of trying to put my children to sleep and you DARE walk out of that room without giving both of them a kiss and a hug...well...I wouldn't recommend it. =)

I wrote this so I'll remember. Because one day, they won't be here driving me nuts at bedtime. They won't need an extra hug or kiss or just my presence to let them know it's okay to sleep. Bree will be tall enough so that more than her worried little eyebrows show above the bannister. It sounds crazy now, and I'm not sure I even believe it myself, but one day I'll miss this craziness.