Our bedtime routine

Our bedtime routine: At 8:00, it's time to finish up playing and go upstairs to read books. David usually reads to him, but I do it sometimes, too. Then at 8:30 we finish up reading, and Ian goes potty and washes his hands. I brush his teeth and wipe his face and then he puts on his jammies. Ian picks out one more book and I sit down beside his bed with it. Then David comes in to say goodnight. He lays on Ian's bed with him and tells him to go to sleep good for Mommy and don't fall out of bed. He also tells him that he loves him and they have a hug. Then we say "night-night" and David turns out the light. David recently put up glow-in-the dark stars on Ian's ceiling and walls and we admire them for a minute, before I turn on the flashlight to read the book Ian has chosen.

Once that's done, I go over and turn on the "night-night music," while Ian gets under the covers. The night-night music is a special cd that I created when Ian was a baby. The songs are Winnie the Pooh, Chim-chim Cheree (from Mary Poppins), Once Upon a December (from Anastasia), Be a Man" (from Mulan), A Whole New World (from Aladdin, The Colors of the Wind (from Pocahontas) and You'll be in My Heart (from Tarzan). After the music starts, I go over and lay in the bed with him and pat his back and sing along with the music until he falls asleep. Oftentimes we talk about things that are on his mind, but I don't let that go on too long, before it's time to be quiet and go to sleep. He's usually asleep by shortly after 9:00, sometimes a little later, if he's very restless. I can sneak out pretty easily once he's asleep, but sometimes he'll call me back for a few more minutes. Someday he'll go to sleep by himself, but I know I'll miss the sweet snuggle time.