Bedtime

Bedtime, as many of you know, is not easy in the Bryant house.  We have struggled with Kayden going to bed since the day he was born.  He would wake up every fifteen minutes in the hospital and the longest sleep stretch the night of his birth was an hour and a half, at which time a nurse walks in and says I need to wake him to feed.  Um, I'm sorry, but no.  He is finally sleeping longer than fifteen minutes and I refuse to wake him up.  She, hesitantly agreed, but only after making me promise to feed him when he woke up.  Agreed.

So, since that first night in the hospital bedtime has been a long lasting, tears shed from child and mother, much negotiating and bribery enriched night.  Four years into it we still struggle many nights and I cling onto hope that one day he will be a teenager that I can't keep awake!  One can hope, right????

So, when Saturday came and I neglected to take pictures of kids playing at our friends birthday party, I decided to take pictures of bedtime.  And I'm happy to report it actually went rather well last night.  I am raising no dummy and he is the king of negotiations and stalling, but I'd be a happy Mama if he went to sleep every night like he did last night.

Our current bedtime routine is as follows:

Watch a bit of tv
Brush teeth
Play Hide-n-Seek - where he always hides with Kyle in the same spot and is ALWAYS surprised I can find him
Fish for books
Read the books Kayden caught
Then lights out

Some nights Kayden just isn't tired enough to go to sleep, so we let him play in his room nicely and quietly by himself until he is ready to turn the light off to go to sleep. 

And most nights he calls for us once or twice or maybe three times for this, that or the other thing, but I'm happy as long as he doesn't scream or cry.

 Can you see the book dangling there?  That's Kayden fishing for books.

He is so surprised he caught one!

 

And here is a little glimpse into our bedtime routine!  We hope everyone has a good week.