Our bedtime rituals have changed over the months, but currently they are as follows: brush teeth, change diaper, carry into bed, if fussy wipe away tears and boogers, and pat back. Now that you know what I do to put Lisa into bed, here's what we do with the kids: brush teeth, change diaper, walk around the room pointing and talking about the pictures on the wall, give hugs and kisses, and then drop them into their cribs warning them not to wake up in the middle of the night or else their cries will kill a random, innocent child somewhere in the world.
One new thing that has been introduced to the bedtime ritual is something I have done with their bunny blanket and their doll. With the blanket, I place the bunny head next to the doll's head and then wrap them together as if they were going to sleep with each other. Emma likes to use this little bundle as a pillow, and Andrew likes to use it as a punching bag to expend his last gasps of manic energy.
Andrew has been going through a phase where he wakes up in the middle of the night crying. About 99% of the time, this means he dropped his pacifier. The other 1% of the time, he dropped his cigarette. So Lisa and I end up searching for his pacifier on the floor with a flashlight; it's much easier to find the cigarette because the tip is usually still glowing.
Last night, Andrew woke up in the middle of the night crying twice. And both times, the pacifier was in his mouth. So why was he crying? Because he wanted his bunny blanket wrapped around his Mickey Mouse doll! Lisa told me when she entered the room, Andrew was standing on the edge of the crib with the blanket in one hand, his doll in the other, a cigarette in his mouth, and he was waving his hands which indicates that he wants them wrapped up.
Suffice it to say, Lisa was rather aggravated at me for starting a new habit with Andrew. But who would've known that doll wrapping would be so habit forming? I suggested that we do a family intervention with Andrew and try to address all of his addictions: pacifier sucking, doll wrapping, cigarettes, and cross-dressing (Although I attribute the latter to Crazy Grandma Ichikawa occasionally confusing Andrew for Emma.). Ultimately, we plan to wean Andrew off his pacifier during the summer, and hopefully the doll wrapping will be a non-issue at that time. Otherwise, I will be very careful not to start any other habits with the kids.
Whoops! Gotta go because Emma is crying. I bet she wants another Xanax.
1 comment:
Instead of YOU wrapping the dolls in the blanket, you should start another tradition of having the KIDS wrap their own dolls in the blanket. That way, if they wake up in the night, they can re-wrap their dolls and not wake you up!
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