Monday, October 5, 2009

Bedtime

The kids are so rambunctious with each other right now that I am regularly pulling one off the other, separating them and sending them to separate couches/ benches/ car seats/ laps/ corners of the yard. Pequita likes to scream at the lightest of touches from her brother, trying to illicit a response from us. I am now garnering disapproving glares from the old ladies in the park when my response to her cries is, "Are you BLEEDING, honey?". Monito is more naughty at this point, and coupled with his orneriness is SUCH A TREAT.


The kids eat dinner and start to get increasingly nutsy and physical. It is a time of night that almost always results in tears and screaming. They are so tired and don't handle this transition well. No more. I have figured out that as they are crying as I get them into their jammies if I play a story on You Tube they willingly accept whatever bedtime prep I must inflict on them with an eerie calm and glassy stare. Brown Bear, Brown Bear followed by the Sound of Music hits the Antwerp train station, followed by the Pants-Free subway ride (more for Mama and I) finishing with So Long Farewell from the Sound of Music. All the while they are lolling on the beanbags in the office, which is on the landing/ hallway upstairs.



They are then pliable and snugly and go happily into our bed for stories, nursing with H-Mama and clutching - with no nursing - my dried up, less-full nye-nyes.


They willingly shift into their own bed and are off to sleep with ease.


It works for us.

1 comment:

Alison Williams said...

Bob the Builder is the sure winner in our house. Parenting without TV doesn't bear thinking about.