Like many of my friends, we have a bed time routine for each of our kids. Sweets is still in the "I am too tired for anything at bedtime except kisses and my bed" phase, so we generally kiss her goodnight and put her to bed. Doodle on the other hand, has what has become a long drawn out bedtime that has lots of manipulating parts. And when I say manipulating I am referring to a two way street.
Generally her bedtime routine has been bath, jammies, classic Mickey Mouse cartoon, story, prayers, singing. This is longer than we ever wanted it to be, but gives her some quiet time with both of us (assuming my Favoritest is home for bedtime). And the length also allows us some choices and consequences. For example, if it is late we will make Doodle choose either a mickey cartoon or a story. Of course she usually chooses a story. We have also been known to take away portions of the bed time as a consequence for poor choices during the evening. The point of all this rambling about our bedtime routine is that it has become streamlined and almost sacred during our time in the hotel-house.
The girls are sharing a room. The first few nights we put the to bed at the same time. For about an hour this is what we heard "I-zeeee. Nite-nite. Bink Bink Bink. Hi! I-zeee. Helwoo!" Sweets wouldn't stop talking to Doodle. And while it was cute the first night, it was causing cranky kids in the morning. So we started putting Sweets to bed before Doodle. Hoping that Sweets would fall asleep and then we could put Doodle in bed. This plan would have been perfect, if Doodle had a variety of volumes, but she only does loud. So Sweets wouldn't fall asleep.
And then, I had an idea. A beautiful, wonderful idea. Doodle and I would take her new Junie B, Jones book to the lobby and read a couple of chapters aloud. Then come back to the room for prayers and singing. And so began our hotel-house bed time routine. Now, Doodle is rushing to put on her jammies, pack up a few friends and her dessert and head to the lobby.
We snuggle up in front of the fire and we read. We both love it. I get 15-20 minutes with my big girl that is uniterrupted by life. She is in heaven, getting me all to herself. And she is loving chapter books. One night, as I carried my big sleepy girl back to the room on my back, she whispered in my ear " mommy, I really like going to the lobby to read chapter books. We should remember to do this when we get home". I quickly said the same thing.
And made a promise to my self to not let this slip away into the hustle and bustle of our house at night. Promised myself not to take away this precious time as a consequence. Promised myself to not allow her choices about this one thing. We both need this time. And all to soon, she isn't going to want to snuggle in my arms and read about the adventures of Jack and Annie and Junie B.
Most nights when we come back to the room Sweets is either asleep or groggy enough that she doesn't talk to Doodle. Both the kids are getting to bed at a better time. It's a win win! And I get to look down at this for a few minutes every night!
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