Skip to main content

Putting Amanda to sleep

I've gotten to put Amanda to sleep quite a lot lately while Michael gets Luke into his crib. Here's what we do:
  • We have a written "check list" of things to do to put Amanda to sleep. She's starting to be able to read, and it is great to ask her what comes next on the list instead of having me continually nag her about it. The list also helps when Michael is putting Amanda to bed. It involves things like putting on heavy duty lotion (Theraplex emollient, for those who are interested), brushing teeth and hair, finding clothes for the next day, and so on.
  • We go through the check list while Luke is having stories read to him "In Mana's oom!" I guess stories are more fun in your sister's room, I don't know. This means that I usually don't read stories separately to Amanda anymore.
  • After Luke goes off to bed and we have finished our list, we get into bed to "play fairies." This is something special for Mama, since Daddy flatly refuses. Amanda has a number of special friends---two sheep, an eagle ray, a few fairies, maybe a car or two, and the ever present "butterflies" (Amanda's hands). Amanda has a script, and I get chewed out when I make a mistake.
  • At 7:50 or so (it depends on when we start---I really can't play more than about 10 minutes of fairies at a time) I tell her to put away the fairies. I pray, then I sing "Jesus Loves Me."
  • Then Amanda gives me kisses. It started out as one or two, which I had to reciprocate. Then we needed "one for good luck." Then it grew to be up to 20 kisses. Then she needed to give me "one for being her favorite Mama." This was a very effective way of stalling going to bed, because who would cut their daughter off in the middle of kisses? Thankfully, it is back down to one, with one hug and "one for gooooood luck!"
If I'm lucky I get to leave the room at this point. If she's lucky, she stalls for another minute or two. And then I leave and she goes to sleep, after getting up a few more times for water, finding more fairy friends, and seeing what her sister is up to. And then she goes to sleep and wakes up in the morning!
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

My hero, Helen Parr

Otherwise known as Elastigirl , a.k.a Mrs. Incredible. She is a stay at home mom ( SAHM ), she clearly feels that what she is doing is important and is willing to give up a lot to do it (remember her comment in the intro: "I'm at the top of my game! Leave saving the world to the guys? I don't think so.") But she is finding fulfillment in leading her family from day to day, in doing a hard job well. She also knows that she is very talented, and that knowledge helps her see beyond the repetitive drudgery of staying home. My favorite scene is from the deleted introduction, where she talks with a "career woman" who is of the opinion that staying home is fine for people who can't do anything else. She responds that taking care of her kid is at least as hard as saving the world, and is valuable contribution to society. The point for me is that someone has to do the job that I'm doing, and it's not something that you could pay someone to do. I see...
8 comments
Read more

Kindergarten Fashions

I was informed the other day that Eleanor wants to get a new thermos. She lost the o-ring from her purple Tinkerbell thermos, and I have so far resisted buying another one for her, on the theory that you shouldn't just replace things that are broken since it doesn't encourage being careful with one's things. I have been sending her with the sippee cups that she has been using since she was a year old, which she has resisted giving up to the point of becoming partly dehydrated when I don't let her use them at home. Here's how the conversation went. Eleanor: Anna and Jane said today at lunch, " Kindergartners don't drink from sippee cups!" Me: That's very interesting. Eleanor: They are supposed to drink from thermoses. Me: Eleanor, would you like a new thermos? Eleanor: Yes! Get the purple one, please. If there is a crayon one, that's the one I want.... Who knew that peer pressure started in kindergarten? The sippee cups are perfectly f...
4 comments
Read more

Why you should study the history of math

  Why you should study the history of math In the mid 1300s a fad made its way around Italy. Mathematicians would challenge each other to “mathematical duels”. They would post problems for their opponents to solve, sometimes along with their solutions in coded poetry. The winners would get support and funding from rich patrons, the losers would descend into obscurity. One such contest, between Fiore and Tartaglia, involved a new method for solving the cubic. In order to win, Tartaglia worked day and night to find Fiore’s method---unfortunately, Fiore did not do the same and only knew his own method and no others. (*Recall that the formula for solutions to quadratic equations of the form use the quadratic formula, Giorlamo Cardano---physician, philosopher, astrologer and mathematician---convinced Tartaglia to share his method and promised never to reveal it. Then Cardano figured out a more general method, and wanted to share it, but was blocked by his promises. Fortunately (for Ca...
Post a Comment
Read more