Bedtime

Kyrie's post on her family's nightly rhythm has inspired me to write about our own. Because we are visiting our family right now and have been for a couple of weeks, we are taking a bit of a departure from our usual nighttime rituals. Times like this are good for me--they allow me to zoom out on our lives, they offer a perspective that I don't have when I am at home and this then enables me to zoom in on what needs to be changed and to notice what is lovely just they way it is.

We have nearly always had an early bedtime. As a child myself, my mother fed, bathed, and put me and my brother to bed close to 7:30 in the evening so the concept of a structured bedtime ritual and early bedtime was not something new to me. Additionally, my sister-in-law who had her first child a year before me had her newborn in his crib by 6:30. Our first child was prone to fits in the later evening hours and, as very new parents, we were confused. In passing, someone said to me that she put her children to bed earlier to get some alone time with her husband. I tried a 6:30 bedtime that very same night and have never turned back since!
Like Kyrie, we eat our dinner around five o'clock. Much of the time, our two older children help me with dinner while the baby is either on his final nap of the day (usually just before 4 pm) or sitting close by in a bouncy seat. Unlike Kyrie, however, I am terrible about remembering to put everything on the table so I am constantly popping up and down during the first few minutes of dinner tending to everyone's needs. *Must remember to breathe here, think slowly, and anticipate* For a few months, we started off dinner with each one of us stating what we are grateful for. It was a really beautiful way to start a meal and one that I think we should reinstate.
After dinner and at around 5:30, the two older kids head upstairs for a bath (we have recently switched back to a bath every night rather than every other night) with their Daddy (if he is home) while I nurse the baby and put him to bed. Then I bring out their pajamas and lay out their clothes for the following day (if I remember). After the bath, each child picks one book (or one is chosen by me). Following reading, we darken the room and light the bedtime candle. Each of us then recounts the events of our days. H always begins his part by saying, "I like to see dinosaurs." We haven't figured this out yet but it is always a part of the evening that makes me smile. We blow out the candle and say good night (and then of course we honor requests for new water, a dropped passy, a dollie, etc... for another fifteen minutes but then... that is the unrhythmic part of our rhythm!).