On most nights we put Wit down a little earlier than the other kids. He's easy to tuck in. He talks about music class and the snow and friends. Whatever comes to his mind. We giggle and tickle. We pray and kiss good night. Five minutes later, close door and see you in the morning. It will get harder when he is older to make our nighttime ritual work, but we will adapt. It will work out. For now he's easy.
Then we turn our attention to Zeb and Langley. Skip and I have always switched nights with these two. The nights that I am with Zeb, he is with Langley. Vice versa.
This is their time to be an only child with an attentive parent. No distractions. No noise. No interruptions. No excuses. The stress of the day is over, melted away. We can focus one to one.
We spend about 30 minutes with them. This is our time to talk about anything, or nothing. It's our time to address some issues that concern them that maybe they can't share with all the chaos of the day. It's our time to pray, to laugh, to hug, to affirm, to love, to rub backs, or to count freckles. It's our time for whatever.
It's their time to know we care about them. To show them that no matter what happens during the day we love them. We accept them. We forgive them. There are nights when the day has been so stressful and so full of mistakes that all we do is hang on to each other. And that's ok.
I treasure this ritual and I miss it when we don't have it. It's my hope that even when they have outgrown their bunkbeds and have a curfew that we can still make time for this.
It's my favorite thing about being a mommy...THEIR mommy.
1 comment:
I love that. It's so true, bedtime wipes away the stress of the day, and for just a bit, gives us our babies back. I am laying next to my littlest sleeping baby right now, soaking in his soft breathes and snuggles.
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