**Disclaimer: for those of you who thought, based on the title, that this was going to be a post about how I wanted more babies... please be rest assured that there will NOT be another crazy Hopkins in the mix anytime soon. Three kids are swell, I'm sure, but I wouldn't be able to handle the insanity.**
"More babies!" is what Annelie shouts every night at bedtime.
Annelie and bedtime rituals have been on the annoying side since she was past the days of actually sleeping (like, at 6 months or so) and I'm going a little bit nuts here.
I had hoped the worst of it would have been when we first moved to Abilene this past summer and she was cheerfully harassing me at all hours of the night by fake sneezing in my face {remember this post?} or just the other night when when she gave Gracie her first black eye {remember this post?} when she was supposed to be happily tucked in bed. We finally moved Gracie in with us last week because the poor girl wasn't getting any sleep at all as a result of Annelie sitting on her head.
But the other night, when I just couldn't handle Annelie and our bed time ritual of taking a bath, having a warm milk bottle, reading Goodnight Moon and saying 'goodnight' to just about everything on Earth, and then spending the next two hours chasing her around the house and getting her to lay back down (she even knows how to remove childproof doorknobs - how? I'm not sure. Perhaps she was MacGyver in her past life) - I came up with the brilliant (read: desperate) plan of surrounding Annelie with all her 'babies' and then covering them all with her blanket and saying goodnight.
Wanna know what? It worked. Annelie didn't move a muscle. She just curled up with her babies and went to sleep. It was a MIRACLE!
So now, all bedtimes are preceded by Annelie chanting 'More babies!" while I cover her with every stuffed animal and doll in the house. My fingers are crossed that this will keep working for the rest of her life, but, as I'm slightly more realistic than that, I figure I have maybe another day or two before she goes back to her terrible, horrible, no good, very bad, bed-time self.
But my favorite story is when my mom was visiting last weekend and went in to check on Annelie after she had fallen asleep, only to find that, besides being surrounded by her babies, Annelie had also tucked an entire case of diapers around herself and was happily snoozing away.
Funny how, when they are sleeping, you actually forget how annoying they can be - if only for a second.
xoxo,
19 comments:
Ha! That's awesome! You're a genius. I put mine down with zero babies and yet somehow find her surrounded by every stuffed animal in the house, all dressed in her (clean - argh!) clothes.
These kids are crazy, I tell ya.
LOL, I can relate - my son won't sleep unless I'm sleeping with him, so I do a lot of sneaking out of his bedroom -- or else watching TV on very low volume while he sleeps in my bed.
lol!! My daughter has to sleep with her babies every night. We have to find just the right ones.
Kids are hilarious!
lol - I hope this last for your.
My daughter has to have her books. She sleep with more books in her bed then pillows or stuffies. It is what works for us. But the other morning she got up with a bruise on her neck. I asked her how she got it and she said she rolled into a book. Hopefully it won't happen again.
Marisa,
You are one interesting lady! I'm glad I spent some time reading your blog this morning.
very cute! And yes 3 children can be verrry chaotic! (ages 3,2,1)
Oh, that's just too cute :)
I did this as a child too. Problem is when you are 26 and still sleeping with "babies" as I am. I cant get rid of that stuffed bunny. :)
She is too much! Maddie just needs her thumb and her blankie and she's good to go. I used to say (before actually becoming a mom) that I would never allow any of my children to suck their thumb, but all that's changed. Now, it's all about survival and whatever works so long as it's not dangerous.
LOL - this is my two boys combined. My oldest has a diaper obsession. He is five now and we still on occasion catch him sneaking a package of his brother's diapers into bed with him (the worst was the morning we woke up to find him in his bed snuggling our old *no longer in use* diaper genie).
And my three year old has to have all his "babies" in the house with him. He is finally outgrowing this a bit - we are down to the top 10 or so, but his bed was very crowded for about a year.
I say whatever gets them into bed and asleep with the least amount of fuss and effort at this age is A-OK with me! :)
We do have fears of our oldest popping into the janitor closet at his high school graduation in order to cop a feel with a bag of diapers though.
my daughter has an ever increasing number of stuffies joining her in bed each night. We also remove 3/4's of her library and every library book in our possession out of her bed every night after lights are out and curtains are closed.I'd like to know how she reads with no light source but I think it's sweet.
good luck with the next round of ingenious bedtime rituals :)
She is so cute! My 2 year old has to have her puppy...and then I must sing twinkle twinkle to her about 5 thousand times!
lol very sweet...but glad you haven't lost your mind completely and understand it won't last :)
my youngest is happily spitting on my shoulder as I type this (just for his own amusement and target practise I suspect)
That's just too cute!
Oh, this scene looks SO familiar, though at our house it's a pile of stuffed kitties.
I'm so proud to see little Barrington included in the pile!!
How cute she is..I think all her toys take up most of the room..
That is soooo cute! :-)
marisa, i love your blog! three kids is insanity (i know!) bedtime can be a challenge to say the least, we have a pretty good routine going but my youngest is almost 3!
Well, I'll tell you, I SO needed this today! Your children are absolute dolls! And your writing, well, it is masterful! Really you should publish a book!
Sandra Evertson
Post a Comment