Bedtime Routine

We are getting to the age where a bedtime routine is critical for Ava. Usually we just feed Ava a bottle and put her down in her crib with the music and fan on. This just doesn’t seem to be cutting it anymore, especially since we peek on her and find her standing up on her crib jumping and talking loudly! I think reading is so important to kids, even early on, but we don’t do it as much with Ava as we did with Grace. So, just this week we’ve tried a new bedtime routine and it seems to be working, plus it is so much fun.

1. Bath Time – They both love it. Grace and Ava both say “tub tub time!” at the top of their lungs when they see the bath tub.

2. Snack / Milk / Mickey – After bath, we go back upstairs and watch Mickey Mouse, eat a snack and have some milk.

3. Books – Grace gets to pick out two books each night. Then we all head to our bedroom to read them on the bed.

4. Prayer – When we are done with the books, we all hold hands and pray together. As with everything Grace does, her prayers are very animated. “Dear God…thank you for EVERYTHING…I love you SOOOOOOO much! Amen!!!!” I’ll have to get it on video one time, it is just precious.

5. Singing – Grace gets to pick out two songs to sing. Her normal choices include; Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, This Little Light of Mine, He’s Got the Whole World, The Wheels on the Bus and her new favorite Jeremiah was a Bullfrog! Ava normally dances to Gracie’s singing and then actually claps at the end!

6. Brush Teeth – We’ve never done this with both girls together, but they think it is so fun.

Then they both go in their beds to sleep. Normally they sit and “talk” for 15 minutes or so before they go to bed. Wow, typing it out seems like there is a lot of things we do before bed, but it is so fun to be all together.