Bedtime Routine and other Changes

It’s been so long since I’ve written that the next several entries are going to be lengthy. Please forgive me as I catch up on the last six months!

Obviously Kate has grown drastically in this time (when will the growth spurt end—she is now in the 90th percentile and as big as most 3 year olds?!). Keith and I have enjoyed the ride. Lots of folks say twos are terrible, but so far, it’s been anything but.

Fickle, fickle, fickle: The thing that strikes Keith and me the most this week is that she is hysterically fickle—so devoted to one thing or another, but only for a couple of days, and then she moves on. One day, she can’t get enough of Daddy and tells me to go away or not get in the pool, but then later the same day insists that I do bath time and bed time. One day she can’t live without The Cat in the Hat and reading it 10 times, the next, she’d prefer Green Eggs and Ham or something else entirely.

Still a Bookworm: She is consistent in that she loves, loves, loves to read and there’s a core group of books that she returns to over and over and over again. She blew my mind when in February, I walked in her room to hear her reciting one of her books. Now she can recite several passages of The Cat in the Hat and Green Eggs and Ham and narrate more than a dozen of her stories. I’ve started taking her to the library regularly and whatever her current crop of library books are, often top the most requested read list. I love to see how fast she learns a story and catch her “reading” to herself in her room while I’m making dinner or washing dishes. I especially love to see that she gets 90% of the story right.

I am especially thankful that she is happy to sit on her own and flip through he books and give me a few minutes to prepare a meal or clean up after one.

Check out Kate’s current favorite titles and wish list on our new page!

Bedtime routine changes: Like so many other little ones her age, Kate gets a bath every night, tries to go potty, puts on pajamas, brushes teeth and then we read two or three stories before putting her in her crib to go to sleep while listening to a lullaby album.

• Talk about the Day! After story time, and before turning on the music, I started “talking about the day” with Kate, probably around her birthday or shortly after. I thought it would be a good way to recap our activities of the day. She loves this so much, I can normally offer her one more story or talk about the day and she’ll always choose talk about the day.


• Sing Mommy! After I talk about the day, Kate began asking me to sing, so I began singing two songs: You are My Sunshine and Hush Little Baby (they were the only ones I could think of at the moment). I forgot to mention this little change to Keith one night when I was at Mom’s Night Out. Oh how I wish I had a recording of the “made-up” version he sang to her the night!! After the third time he tried to put her to bed, he actually committed himself to learning the words to both songs. What a great dad!


• Can the Music! One night as I was walking out of the room, Kate tells me, “no music, Mommy. I don’t want music on.” Can you blame her? We’ve been playing the same 12 songs for over 2 years, now! We have not played her lullaby music for naptime or bedtime since that night. I find it amazing that she can change a routine like that without any hesitation or weaning. Now if I could just do that with the last paci…she is still holding onto it even though she knows she has to send it to the Paci Fairy for another baby and has already sent two others away…


• Door Open…Door Closed! For a few weeks, Kate decided she wanted to go to sleep with the door open…for both naptime and bedtime. AHHH! With the kitchen right off of her bedroom, this was a disaster for me trying to eat lunch, clean up after dinner, etc. With a little work, I was able to convince her that mommy is too loud in the kitchen to keep the door open. Now, she actually asks for the door to be closed. Thank goodness!


• Pillow & Stuffed Animal Entourage! Right around Kate’s birthday, she was sick. She actually was sick on and off again a ton between Christmas and her birthday. Thank goodness she was not sick on her birthday! I introduced her “kitty pillow” to elevate her head. The pillow has not left the crib since, except for the quick wash every couple weeks. In addition to the pillow, Kate is quite particular about which stuffed animals are keeping her company in her crib. Animals line the headboard like a bumper. One day I took out the majority of the animals. While settling down for her nap, she was a little rambunctious and banged her head on the headboard. I immediately returned the entourage and just take one or two out as she adds new ones to the collection.


• Blanket! Grandma Sandy made Kate a blanket before she was born and it has had a home on Kate’s crib ever since. During the winter, I would sometimes place the blanket on Kate, but she always kicked it off. Randomly, Kate began asking for the blanket...probably around the time she quit listening to her lullaby music. At first, she slept with the blanket on, both naptime and bedtime. And, she insisted it cover her feet and arms…a challenge for the little blanket. Then, she asked for it, but quickly kicked it off for a while. Now, she asks for it to be next to her, not on her, and this too will certainly change in an instant.


• Change it, Mommy! For a few weeks, Kate was laying down to go to sleep and peeing almost immediately. She’d stand up and say, “Change it, Mommy.” Mommy started getting really annoyed at this stall tactic, especially since most of the time she was barely wet. I became more dogmatic about having Kate use the big girl potty immediately after bath time. That seems to have done the trick. For a while she was going every night in the potty. Now, it’s hit or miss, but at least she’s not calling me back in the room to change her diaper every night anymore.


• Tickle me! While singing to Kate, I would often stroke her hair and face. Somehow that has evolved into Kate demanding to be tickled with her lovie. My, oh, my! She is so much like me. I can remember tickling myself with my own blanket when I was young. What’s so strange is she asks to be tickled in places she doesn’t otherwise like to be touched… her neck and her belly. She is so sensitive about her belly being covered while changing her diaper, but when it is night time, she pulls up her shirt or nightgown, so I can have full access to the belly.


• Nightgown! Since Kate does not sleep with a blanket, we have always put Kate in footy pajamas…heavy ones for winter and light ones for summer. As the weather warmed this year, we began putting her in short sleeve tops, light pants and no socks. One night when daddy was in charge and mommy was out, he couldn’t find any clean pajamas and put Kate in a nightgown. She rarely sleeps in anything else these days.


• Mr. Moon and Mr. Sunshine! Kate began waking up at the crack of dawn this summer. Regardless of what time she goes to sleep, she was waking at 6a. Nine months ago, I learned about a night light that turns into a moon for bedtime and a sun for wake time (goodnitelite.com). It was on the pricey side, but it had a money back guarantee, so I finally bought it hoping it would allow me an extra hour each morning. This was absolutely the best money I have spent in years. She still wakes at 6am, but now she looks at her light and actually lays back down if Mr. Sunshine isn’t up, yet. She even falls back asleep now and then. Amazing. At night, it’s just as amazing. She sees Mr. Moon and is immediately ready to go night-night. Brilliant!