Rhythm In Our Home: Bedtime

I am joining Nicole in posting a weekly glimpse of the rhythms in our home. I decided to start with bedtime as that really is when their day begins. Odd as that may sound, sleep is so important in the development of children. I have found that with my kids, an early bedtime is best. So our nigthtime routine starts with dinner! I try to have dinner prepared and on the table at a consistant time each night so as not to throw off the rest of the evening. The kids, especially Parker and MaKenna, are generally ready for dinner around 6 anyways and if it is any later, lots of whining and fussiness ensues!


After dinner, the boys excuse themselves from the table. Dishes are cleared and washed and they head upstairs for bath/showers. For awhile, they were taking showers together, as our master shower is quite large, but lately they have been requesting to take baths again. I am happy to oblige as it seems to allow them more time to unwind. I started putting a few drops of lavendar essential oil into the bathwater to aid in the calming process.

After my bath, I try, try, try

To wipe myself till I'm dry, dry, dry.

Hands to wipe, and fingers, and toes,

And two wet legs and a shiny nose.

Just think, how much less time I'd take,

If I were a dog, and could shake, shake, shake.

Wynstones

Once they are all dry and jammied up, we pile into our bed for a story. When they were little, we used to read two or three stories. That generally led into "one more story" and so we settled onto one book for everyone. Right now, it is Winnie The Pooh :-) Daddy is the story reader most nights, but sometimes the boys request that I read the story. Otherwise, I am happy to listen. After a chapter or two, it is time to be "tuckled" in (Jacob's way of saying tucked in).

We do a round of goodnight hugs and kisses for MaKenna and it is off to bed! Hugs and kisses from mama and daddy, blessings for sweet dreams and a new day to begin and lights out. We aim to have them in bed by 7:30. Blake will generally read for another hour and then I will do another tuck in and lights out for him. And that is our bedtime rhythm!

*Now, just to add because this is what is happening in our life, we are in the midst of some sleep issues with MaKenna. She has been so, so, so difficult to get to sleep for the past several days. Since she was an infant, I always rocked her to sleep (nursing her when she still nursed). She was a pretty good sleeper in that she could be laid down awake and she would fall asleep on her own. Several weeks ago, she began climbing out of her crib so we converted it to a toddler bed. She did great! She was staying in her bed and falling asleep with no issues at naptime and bedtime. Fast forward and now she gets out all.the.time. Some days she doesn't even take a nap (which leads to an oh so fun evening). As I am typing this up, she has come out of her room at least 6 times and I have been trying for over an hour to get her to fall asleep *sigh*. I know it is a phase and hopefully, it will pass. But this mama is a bit tired and it is hard to be *on* all day long. I look forward to the time in the evenings when everyone is peacefully sleeping and I can knit, read, talk with Peter, etc. I have been missing that time these past few days! So I am hoping that by being really, really strict with our sleep time rhythms, I can get her back on track!