Bedtime Ritual

One of my favorite, and perhaps truly the favorite time of day for me is my children’s bedtime.  And I don’t mean the time at which the lights go out and they close their sleepy eyes for the night (although that moment has it’s good points too).  I mean the hour preceding that time, when it’s just us,  just our family huddled in one room, almost always Ariana’s room, and we don’t let any of the outside world in.  There is no doing of chores or reading of news or checking of email or answering of phones.  It’s all shut out, if but for this time of day.  And we relish in each other’s company and the thrill of close quarters like we do when we stay in a hotel on vacation. 

It may seem at a hurried pace, because there always is so much to do, but we’re really taking our sweet time.  The wee babies three each take turns going potty, getting washed up in the tub by Daddy, getting towel dried and dressed in fresh jammies by Mommy, hair brushed, teeth brushed --  sure.  But amidst all this, we play, and not in a structured way the way you think to play with blocks or a board game or something like that.  We play, letting our hearts be the guide.  We give tickles and wrap the babes up in towel “burritos” and “make pizzas” on each other’s tummies.  We all cuddle on the bed and have dance contests to the folk or hip hop or classic rock tunes that Daddy’s Droid phone pipes out, which is the soundtrack to our bedtime ritual.  Bella dresses up in Ari’s shoes and hats, Gabe solicits us for a sword fight with Mickey Mouse (or imaginary) swords, Ari dumps out her basket of books and flips through their pages one by one.  It’s a chaos of love.  And when we’re done, and it’s way past the predetermined bedtime we had in our minds, we read stories and say our prayers in a circle on the carpet.  Ari gets tucked in by Mommy, Gabe gets tucked in by Daddy, and we both take turns tucking Bella in. 

Can I keep this sweetness?  

Isabella loves getting her teeth brushed.  Well, I guess it would be more accurate to say that she loves toothpaste, and this is about the only time she get get it without having to be sneaky about it.  But make no mistake, leave a toothbrush unattended on the counter and she’ll eat the toothpaste off of it in the time it takes to blink your eyes.  And if ever can’t be found, you can bet she’ll be huddled in the back of our walk-in closet, tube in hand, eating the minty paste by the squeeze.

{Ari playing with Mommy’s toes}

 

{Goodnight moons}