Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Bedtime Bliss

Putting Anne to bed last night was one of the most enjoyable moments I have ever had as a Mom.  

We've worked out a new bedtime routine that includes nursing her, letting her play on the bed for about 15 minutes, and then having her lay down next to me until she falls asleep (during which time she can continue to play with a toy or look at a book as long as she's laying down).  It's working reasonably well as long as I remember to be patient with her and not try to force her to do anything.

Last night when I told her it was time to lay down, she snuggled up to me, laying on her side facing me as I laid next to her.  Taking this moment as an opportunity to enjoy the closeness and her willingness to lay there with me, I started asking her yes/no questions about her day.

"Did you have fun at school?" (nods yes)
"Did you get to color today?" (nods yes and smiles)
"Did you get to play with construction paper?" (nods yes)
"Did you play on the bridge?" (shakes head no)
"Did you play in the  toy house?" (nods yes)
"Did you sing any songs?" (nods yes, grins, and makes the hand motion that means Itsy Bitsy Spider to her.  At which point I sang the song for her, twice, and we had fun giggling together)

I continued asking her questions for several minutes, including naming some of her classmates and asking if she played with them.  She grinned extra big when I mentioned a little boy named Junior... uh oh ;-)   At one point she just babbled for awhile and I listened and made appropriate comments to encourage her to keep "talking" to me.

It was amazing.  We had a whole conversation.

When I ran out of questions to ask her, she wanted to look at some books. I talked about what I saw in the pictures since she didn't want me to read the actual stories.  She fell asleep with a book on her chest, still curled up in my arms.

It's these moments that make it all worth it, that make parenting the best thing in the world.