I don’t know what happened to our bedtime routine. We used to have a system. There were schedules we stuck to with religious fervor. And this worked for a long time. It got us from sleepless nights to sleeping through the night. The stability of routine ensuring that none of us ended up in a pile of tears in the corner.
But now we’ve evolved into a state a chaos. There’s no schedule, no set bed time, no set agenda of activities. Sometimes there are baths, sometimes not. Showers in the morning mean bath time gets traded for Lego time. Although sometimes bath time and Lego time become one, the plastic bricks making great waterproof entertainment.
Some nights I read stories. When I voice the character of Toad in Frog and Toad Are Friends, he laughs and smiles. Other nights he’s treated to “special stories” invented in Daddy’s imagination. And the kid’s got skills, selling skills, already expertly talking his way into “just one more” story before the lights go out. Bedtime is never at the same time.
Deep down I know why we’re here. Now a full-time working mom, I only see him a few hours a day during the week. That time in the evening before bed is much more precious. I’m not in as much of a hurry to get him to bed. I want to relax the rules we once had and just enjoy his company.
There is one constant though. Bedtime always ends snuggling Zezza.
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Please follow the circle to see what bedtime looks like for my friend Erin.
