Bedtime At Our House

The other day my friend posted this status on Facebook

Our next baby will sleep in. God has to give us one that sleeps in, right? Someday? 5:00 am on Saturday isn't my favorite....

and my reply was

Be careful what you wish for. If you get a baby that sleeps in he/she probably won't go to bed anywhere near a decent hour. Take it from one who knows. 

My kids are night owls and while it is nice that they'll let us sleep in, struggling to get them to bed before 10:00 is bleh. Last year when we had to start getting up early I had to gear my ENTIRE day towards how to get them to sleep at night. That meant that the moment I got up I was thinking about how late they could sleep in without ruining bedtime. The same thing for naps and calculating how much exercise or outdoor time they needed. When to do dinner, the last movie of the day, bath time etc. It's like the whole day was really about the night.

It's not that bad anymore now that we are in a routine. In fact some of our evening rituals are really pleasant and enjoyable, sometimes. Other times I worry that our neighbors are going to call the cops and I will have to explain "I am sorry officer, I know it sounds like someone is being brutally murdered, but kicking, screaming, and violently thrashing around is how my kids choose to settle in for the evening."


All 3 kids in their PJ's before bedtime

But let's focus on the pleasant and enjoyable evenings, shall we? One VERY special bedtime was when Z recently prayed the prayer of salvation with J. You can tell he has had a genuine change in his heart. Every night he wants to read a Bible story. He loves for us to read to him from both real Bible or the Jesus Story Book Bible.



If you have never read the Jesus Story Book Bible, you have to check it out, even if you are an adult. It is so beautiful written! Sometimes Z will even request for us to share a Bible story without reading. J is great at this, but me not so much. I worry that I will end up teaching him false doctrine all because I am tired and bad with names.

Last night was also really sweet because SJ had picked out 10 apples up on top.



It's tricky with her because for this time in our life we/she usually takes her processors off during pajama time. It's a way for her to start to unwind. This means that she can't hear me read a story. So I usually sign to her. While we were reading last night she said "apple" really clear (and she wasn't repeating me because she could not hear). I was so excited. She pointed to each apple and said apple and then started counting each one. She doesn't really know the numbers, but it was totally obvious that she was trying to mimic what sounded like counting. She might have even said an approximation for the numbers one and two.

Every night after story time I turn the lights off and we pray together. Z never felt comfortable leading in prayer until his recent commitment and now that he does I would love to sneak in a recording sometime to capture the precious words he says to the Lord. Wow! His authentic heart of faith is so encouraging. After prayer we play worship music (Amy, sometimes, like last night, we play Ross King.  Such a good way to end the day! Thanks for the tunes.)

Then I lay there with them. Sometimes I fall asleep briefly. I am going to be honest, I don't always love doing this and I think the end is in sight for me laying down with Z. He can go to sleep on his own when he is forced to. I am glad that he will be more independent, for now I will cherish the moments.

In the words of Charles Dickens "it was the best of times, it was the worst of times" and in the words of Messy Mom "One of the greatest joys a parent will ever experience is knowing that all of your children are happy healthy successful  asleep".