Bedtime with Squeaker can be sweet. Bedtime with Squeaker can be frustrating. Most nights it is both. Tonight (yes, Sunday night, fell off the Saturday wagon this week...) bedtime, at least the first time around was pretty easy. She had a bath and we dried her hair, brushed her teeth, flossed, and went into her room for a story. The story went smoothly, then as usual, she tried to get me to tell her a story about when I was a little boy. My telling her another story, after I read her a story, is not part of the bedtime routine. However, her asking me to tell her a story has become a part of the routine, as has my telling her that I am not going to tell her a story. She has been antsy recently when she realizes that it is Sunday and that means I am going back to work. Tonight wasn't any different. We usually talk for a few minutes about the next day. I remind her that if she goes right to sleep, we can have breakfast together. Tonight we, I, talked about our schedule for the week. When I got to Wednesday, she asked me to go. Not in a playful sort of way, which happens sometimes, but in a "Daddy I'm tired and I know what your schedule is this week" kind of way. So I gave her a kiss and hug and headed downstairs.
I got downstairs and heard her chatting with her bedtime friends on the monitor. Things started to get quiet and then after about twenty minutes, she started calling for me. Squeaker will call for us sometimes in order to forestall sleep, but this had a little more insistence to it. We have coached her for some time now to explain why she is calling, specifically if she's calling because she has a dirty diaper to go ahead and say so. For some reason, modesty perhaps, stubbornness maybe, she refuses to do so, so it is a game to figure out why she is calling. In this case, I guessed correctly that she was uncomfortable and would like me to change her diaper.
When I get into her room, she is laying on her side holding her hand up in the air as far is it can reach. I think nothing of her position and ask if she has a dirty diaper. She does, so I get her out of bed and it is in fact a dirty diaper. After I have gotten it changed, she asks if I can wipe her hand off because she thinks she has some poop on it. The hand in the air makes more sense after this request. You have to wonder what would have happened if I didn't guess right about her call. We discussed again that she should tell us that she has a dirty diaper, which I suppose is also part of the routine. Squeaker went right to bed after that and off to sleep within a few minutes.
We have another adventure in bedtime coming next weekend. A backyard camping trip. Stay tuned for a full report!
