7.31.16 - Clara's bedtime routine

Most nights once Clara starts acting tired, I put her in PJs and then I go to the bathroom to get her toothbrush ready. I call "Clara Lynnnn" in a sing-song voice and, between that and the sound of the water running on the toothbrush, she usually comes running, laughing or giggling on the way.

Then I hand her the toothbrush and get my own ready and we brush teeth together. She watches intently as I spit out my toothpase and rinse off my brush, and then I ask her for her brush and she hands it over to me and gets excited as I rinse off her brush too, and put it back in the toothbrush holder.

Then we read some bedtime stories. Sometimes we sit on my bed, other times on the living room couch (depending on which room Jack isn't in). In either case, it's starting to get to the point where she will come to me as I'm picking the books and try to crawl in my lap in anticipation.

I read 4-5 books, usually. She helps turn pages. She still grabs my finger to point to each letter if I sing the ABCs at the end of Chicka Chicka Boom Boom. She's starting to do this thing now where she makes sounds with the same cadence and pitch as my "Theeee end!" at the end of stories. Tonight in particular, when I finished reading "Good Night Gorilla" she squirmed off of me, took it back off the coffee table, carried it to the corner by the front door, and sat down and read it to herself for awhile. I just sat and watched her, trying to tell if she was mimicking the way I always read it to her.

Once story time is over, I take her to her room and hold her next to the Lumos/Nox light switch and let her turn her lights off. I always tell her good job when she does it, as flipping that switch is still a bit of a struggle for her very tiny fingers.

It used to be after that I'd give her a kiss and/or snuggle and put her to bed. Recently we've added a new element, where I put a baby bottle of water on the crib edge and she goes and picks it up and has a drink before lying down. This seems to have made bedtime even smoother as she's less likely to fuss with a bottle in her mouth. I also feel better about it because in the middle of summer now its pretty warm even at night, and I like the idea that she has access to water right away. Most mornings the bottle is empty when I go to get her, so she seems to be using it plenty.

Anyway, just some sweet moments I wanted to remember.