Bedtime

As anyone with kids knows, bedtime is a process. Our kids are no different. None of them like to go to bed and none of them go to bed the same way. Here is what I am talking about.


Blake always has to listen to music. Hallie always asks for a story, a kiss, a hug, to be tucked in, a second kiss, a second hug, something to drink, and music. Andrew and Daniel always want books to read in bed with them. Of course they have to read them by night light because we are smart enough to know not to leave on their bedroom light.

Blake and Hallie always go to sleep easily. They stay in their bed and we don't hear from them until morning. Daniel is usually asleep really fast and rarely gets out of his bed to come downstairs. Daniel does have a peculiar habit of taking all of his clothes off before he falls asleep. There have been many mornings that we find him waiting for us in his room naked as a jaybird. On the days that he does keep on his pajamas, he usually takes off his pull-up. Except for that, he is no problem.

The problem is Andrew. We think that he just doesn't need as much sleep as the others. He seems to need a minimum of three trips downstairs and a minimum of three trips back upstairs before he will close his eyes. The funny thing about him coming downstairs is that he changes clothes for each trip. The first trip is normally in the pajamas that he wore to bed. The next trip usually consists of a shirt change. In the trip after that, he is wearing clothes that he would normally wear to school, sometimes complete with jacket and shoes. At least it makes it easier to get him dressed in the morning.


When morning does come, Hallie is always the first one up and some mornings comes downstairs completely dressed. Here recently, her back seems to be hurting every morning. I am starting to think that it is a ploy. She comes downstairs, climbs in our bed and announces that her back is hurting and she needs a massage. Then she lays their with a huge smile on her while she gets her back massaged. Like mother, like daughter