A New Bedtime Ritual....Sorta

All of my little son's precious life he has been so good about sleeping through the night and going to bed without a fight.  He has made things very easy for his mama.  When he was a baby, I used to rock him for a little while and that was it.  Then more recently, I would cover him up, he would say "night-night, bye!" and I would leave the room.  The last few weeks have been a little different though.

We have cut out our Backyardigans watching before bed.  #1) because he only wants Thomas now.  and #2) because when I get home from work, we spend time together without ANY T.V. (the only TV he gets to watch at that time occasionally is his Thomas the Train music videos just because he LOVES the songs.  And we actually sing and dance along so I don't really count that as watching T.V.)  I don't think there is anything wrong with letting kids have some TV time everyday, I just try to leave that for my mom to use during the day.  Some days she doesn't feel 100% and they have some cuddle time while watching some learning shows.  But when I get home, I have missed him like crazy and just want to spend time with him!  So we eat dinner, take a bath, and then play in his room until we start the teethbrusing/diaper changing bedtime routine at 7:15. My child is very routine-oriented and so he goes to bed religiously at 7:30 every night when he is with me, unless it is a VERY special occasion.  He is just one of those kids who has a hard day the next day if his schedule is messed with too much. 

Now, he still jumps right into bed when I say it's time to go night-night.  Still no tears or arguing or fit-throwing- which I am thankful for.  Heaven knows if he cried I would be crammed into that little twin bed with him until the wee hours of the morning!  But now, instead of saying "night-night, bye!" he wants to cuddle.  And I mean, hardcore cuddle.  He puts those sweet little arms around my neck and will NOT let me go until he drifts off.  If I try to get up, he almost panics and says, "no, no, no..." He has never been one to be exceptionally clingy, but lately at bedtime he has been.  Occasionally, the cuddling will be interrupted by some fake snoring by Brian which takes a LOT of effort on his part.  He really works it up to get the best snort he can in there.  That gets me to laughing so hard which in turn makes him laugh until we are both exhausted from laughing. 

Sometimes I can be in there cuddling for an hour!  I think about all the things I need to do to get ready for the next day, working out, just time to relax.  But then I think about how blessed I am that I have a precious baby who loves me so much and just wants to end his day cuddling with his mama.  So all those other things take a backseat.  And I'm not gonna lie- sometimes I fall asleep too!  But it is worth it to have some beautiful blue eyes looking up at me and saying "I lub you" and giving me wet kisses on the lips :)