Everyone has a nighttime routine, right? If you have kids, you certainly have a routine. Maybe you have the kids take a bath, brush their teeth, get into their jammies, and read them a story before kissing them and letting them go to sleep. Maybe not?
Well, we have our routines. With 2 kids that are 5 1/2 years apart, the bed time routines take place hours apart. Daniel, who's 7, goes to bed much earlier than Sierra, who's 13. Daniel's bed time routine is one of CRAZY amounts of love. Once he is ready for bed, I go in and tuck him all in. I will sit with him and chat about the day we had...the day we will have tomorrow...and shower him with kisses and love. Next, Sierra comes in and spends about 10-15 minutes making him laugh. It is loud and crazy and makes him SO happy. She makes up stories with sound effects or challenges him to all sorts of weird tasks. I could never explain what she does with him, but I can say that you have never seen a happier kid than when she is done. Matt gets the final tuck in. He sets his music for him (Daniel likes sleeping to music). They exchange their guy like good nights and he makes sure there are no animals lurking in the room before shutting off his light and closing the door. Daniel's nighttime routine is long, crazy, and he loves it.
Sierra tends to go to bed after me...I'm a night wimp. She usually will come into my room and tuck me in at night. We will sit together and talk a bit and than she kisses me and is off to her room. Lately, however, our routine has changed and Matt slaps his forehead each night as we partake in what he calls "The Mommy and Daughter Show". I am not sure how or why this happened, but I will be about to fall asleep sitting up, I will be so exhausted, but the next thing you know, Sierra and I are exchanging the funniest, wittiest comments between each other and Matt just sits and listens to it all in wonder at the two of us.
It often begins as most nights in the past did. She will come into my room and plop on my bed. She will start talking about a mundane thing like a test she has to take the next day or where she is at in the book she is reading...and it evolves. She might say something that will remind me of something else and I will interrupt her and tell her which sparks her into something else and the next thing you know, we are laughing and talking about...well....nothing. We will spend 45 minutes to an hour and a half just talking and laughing from subject to subject....no rhyme...no reason...but 100% hilarity...well, to us anyway. The first night this happened, it was kind of a wow, that was a long good night. The second time, I thought...hmmmm? By the fifth night Matt was dying (not from laughter, but with how late this would keep going on). Each night, she would get into the room at 10:15 and not leave until close to 11:30. He quickly began to say we had a "Mommy and Daughter Show" going on each night.
It is much like you may see during a comedy hour...two people just bantering back and forth. We laughed at his calling us this show and at the same time declared we must have a theme song...and our own car...with jet engines. I said we were a lot like Seinfeld, a show about nothing. And really, it is all about nothing. There is no holds barred in our conversation even if there is a man in the room...and poor Matt rarely, if ever, has a part in our show.
The thing is, this is precious, precious time. Sierra is 13, but she always talks to me. She tells me everything. We are extremely close. This is proof positive. That we can, night after night, sit next to each other on the bed and just laugh and banter and talk. I cannot emphasize how important this is. She is getting more and more independent...she spends more time on her own....she spends time with friends...and yet here she is with me. No subject is off limits. We talk about boys, friends, love, the future, music, movies, sex, female stuff (Matt just loves when we get on that subject), animals, and on and on.
I mentioned last night that I should get a tape recorder (duh, I know my iphone can do the job) to record our conversations...she said no. What is spoken during this time is for our ears only. I do not know how long the Mommy and Daughter Show will run, but as long as it does, I will enjoy that time of hilarity and bonding with my daughter...THIS will be something that we will cherish and talk about for years!!
Well, we have our routines. With 2 kids that are 5 1/2 years apart, the bed time routines take place hours apart. Daniel, who's 7, goes to bed much earlier than Sierra, who's 13. Daniel's bed time routine is one of CRAZY amounts of love. Once he is ready for bed, I go in and tuck him all in. I will sit with him and chat about the day we had...the day we will have tomorrow...and shower him with kisses and love. Next, Sierra comes in and spends about 10-15 minutes making him laugh. It is loud and crazy and makes him SO happy. She makes up stories with sound effects or challenges him to all sorts of weird tasks. I could never explain what she does with him, but I can say that you have never seen a happier kid than when she is done. Matt gets the final tuck in. He sets his music for him (Daniel likes sleeping to music). They exchange their guy like good nights and he makes sure there are no animals lurking in the room before shutting off his light and closing the door. Daniel's nighttime routine is long, crazy, and he loves it.
Sierra tends to go to bed after me...I'm a night wimp. She usually will come into my room and tuck me in at night. We will sit together and talk a bit and than she kisses me and is off to her room. Lately, however, our routine has changed and Matt slaps his forehead each night as we partake in what he calls "The Mommy and Daughter Show". I am not sure how or why this happened, but I will be about to fall asleep sitting up, I will be so exhausted, but the next thing you know, Sierra and I are exchanging the funniest, wittiest comments between each other and Matt just sits and listens to it all in wonder at the two of us.
It often begins as most nights in the past did. She will come into my room and plop on my bed. She will start talking about a mundane thing like a test she has to take the next day or where she is at in the book she is reading...and it evolves. She might say something that will remind me of something else and I will interrupt her and tell her which sparks her into something else and the next thing you know, we are laughing and talking about...well....nothing. We will spend 45 minutes to an hour and a half just talking and laughing from subject to subject....no rhyme...no reason...but 100% hilarity...well, to us anyway. The first night this happened, it was kind of a wow, that was a long good night. The second time, I thought...hmmmm? By the fifth night Matt was dying (not from laughter, but with how late this would keep going on). Each night, she would get into the room at 10:15 and not leave until close to 11:30. He quickly began to say we had a "Mommy and Daughter Show" going on each night.
It is much like you may see during a comedy hour...two people just bantering back and forth. We laughed at his calling us this show and at the same time declared we must have a theme song...and our own car...with jet engines. I said we were a lot like Seinfeld, a show about nothing. And really, it is all about nothing. There is no holds barred in our conversation even if there is a man in the room...and poor Matt rarely, if ever, has a part in our show.
The thing is, this is precious, precious time. Sierra is 13, but she always talks to me. She tells me everything. We are extremely close. This is proof positive. That we can, night after night, sit next to each other on the bed and just laugh and banter and talk. I cannot emphasize how important this is. She is getting more and more independent...she spends more time on her own....she spends time with friends...and yet here she is with me. No subject is off limits. We talk about boys, friends, love, the future, music, movies, sex, female stuff (Matt just loves when we get on that subject), animals, and on and on.
I mentioned last night that I should get a tape recorder (duh, I know my iphone can do the job) to record our conversations...she said no. What is spoken during this time is for our ears only. I do not know how long the Mommy and Daughter Show will run, but as long as it does, I will enjoy that time of hilarity and bonding with my daughter...THIS will be something that we will cherish and talk about for years!!
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