Remembering.....

Does anyone else's children feel the need to stick out their tongues for every picture?

Why would a tongue be necessary in a picture?

As I lay in bed with my children, I remember all the things that have been part of our bedtime routine for several years and I want to jot them down so I don't soon forget them. Most of them involve Byron because Abby never allowed us to lay down with her until she became much older, but I have added one or two.

-When Abby was learning to sleep in a "big girl bed", her room was directly down the hall from the living room and Daddy's chair in our house in town. One of the first nights that she realized she could get out of bed (something she never learned about her baby bed...thank goodness), she wanted out but we ended up putting the gate at her door so she couldn't get out of the room. Instead, she feel asleep in the floor right in front of that gate. Wish I had gotten a picture...

-She was 2 months old when she decided to sleep on her own. I rocked her, nursed her, sang to her, walked her, got mad at her, and, finally, as 2 am approached, exhausted, I put her in her bed to just cry it out. She was asleep in less than 30 seconds.....

-Byron's bedtime routine has always been very structured. He thrives on routine. Before his trip to Missouri this summer, it was always a process. Where is your nite nite (blanket)? Ok, found it. Now where is your nunu (pacifier)? look, look, look....ok, got it. Can I have bunk (which eventually evolved into the proper pronunciation....milk)? And it had to be stawbilly bunk (strawberry milk, of course...you're catching on). Daddy laid down with him; Mommy got the milk. So then he and Daddy talked about who was his favorite Daddy, favorite Mommy, favorite Tooterbug, and favorite little Buddy. Daddy got done and then Mommy laid down with him until he fell asleep. When I was pregnant and laid down with him at naptime, he would say, "Mommy, do my footsies." That was simply my cue to hold his feet. Not rub them. Not tickle them. Not warm them up. Just hold them. And I had to hold them both in one hand and allow them to touch each other. I don't know what that was all about, but he doesn't ask for that anymore, and I miss it. (Incidentally, the nunu is now gone. THANK YOU AUNTIE NAE!!!! But he is less dependent on everything now. It must have been some kind of package deal in his mind.)

-He was always fascinated with the seam on his blanket where the two ends met on one side of the blanket. There was a seam in each corner, but he didn't like those. And actually, there was another seam on the side as well, but he didn't like that one either. He wanted the seam closest to the corner. He would ask us to find the seam, he would hold onto it, flick it with one thumbnail, and drift off to sleep. He doesn't ask for that anymore either, and, again, I miss it.

Collin has his bedtime routine, for now. I imagine I will have more to write about him later, but for now, I remember the times when the "big kids" were smaller and all the memories I have of them. I imagine we will go through more stages with each of them as the years progress. Abby not wanting ANYTHING to do with us, at bedtime or any other time. Byron creeping into independence. Collin ready for some alone time after spending all his years trying to sleep through the noise. But I cherish each moment I have with each of them. All too quickly they will begin to drift away from the nest and I will have nothing but memories of the younger years. Here are a few pictures of our memories of today....

This is how I discovered him after nap today.....

The cowboy on his horse.....

Brothers & baths.....