With
Olivia’s second birthday rapidly approaching, I’m reminded of what a thief time
really is, stealing seconds, minutes, and hours away from us without
notice. And before you know it, your
newborn baby girl whose feet barely dangled past your chest when you held her
is turning into a toddler who has to curl her legs up when she lays across your
lap. And that tiny button nose on your
baby boy’s face is replaced with one more refined, more prominent, and you
realize sadly that he’s no longer a baby or even a toddler… he’s a boy.
It
happens to the best of us, and the older we get, the faster time goes. Before we know it, our sweet babies will be
grown and gone.
There
are so many little things that we experience in our day to day routine that we
don’t give much thought to in the present, but eventually those things will be
gone, and one day we will miss them.
That
is, if we even remember them in the first place.
Today
I wanted to capture a few of those routine moments and bottle them up so I
never forget.
O N E – Jacob’s Bedtime
Routine
Brian
helps Jacob get ready for bed while I put Olivia down each night, and then I
meet up with them. Before I come in,
Jacob puts on his own PJs after his bath, and then he and Brian always read a
couple of books followed by teeth brushing.
After he brushes his teeth, he goes back in his room, turns on his star
projector, turns off his lamp, and then he wants to lay in Brian’s lap in the
dark and chat until I come in. If I come
in before he’s done with that part of the routine, all hell breaks loose. Lol.
So Brian has started leaving the door cracked open an inch and once it’s
dark in there, I know to wait a minute or two and then it’s safe to enter.
Once
I get in the room, I kneel down beside the bed and he comes and loves on me a
little, then Brian puts Chap Stick on his lips, and then Jacob crawls into
bed. He never wants his blanket at
first, and he likes for me to ask, “Do you want Mommy or Daddy to stay with you
for a few minutes?” And then he always
says yes, and depending on what “pattern” he’s using, he decides whose turn it
is to stay with him. The pattern we are
currently using is, “Daddy, Daddy, Daddy, Mommy” so clearly we know who his favorite is right now. ;o)
Then
whoever stays with him scratches his back (UNDER HIS SHIRT!!) for a few minutes
and then we ask him if he wants water or his blanket and he always says that he
wants water first. He sips the tiniest sip of water, and then we cover
him with the blanket, pat him for another minute, kiss him goodnight, and make
our exit. That is, if he doesn’t say, “Don’t
leave yet.” If that’s the case (which it usually isn’t
anymore – because growing up) then we
stay for a couple more minutes.
T W O – Olivia’s Bedtime
Routine
While
Brian is assisting Jacob, Olivia sits in my lap in her rocking chair while we
read a couple of books, and then before we turn her lamp off she has to pick up
the giant picture frame of monthly pictures from her first year and she has to
“feed” her paci to each picture, wipe it off, and then tell it goodnight – “Goodnight,
Wee-ya” (Olivia). She does this thirteen
times. It is a hoot. And some nights, it is a bit exhausting.
After
she tells all thirteen of herselves goodnight, we turn off the light and she says,
“Pray-yah, pray-yah” (prayer) like she’s from Boston or something. We say the bedtime prayer first (Now I Lay Me
Down to Sleep), and then we talk to God about what we are thankful for and we
pray for any special intentions that we have.
My sister-in-law, Cheryl, is pregnant right now so we’ve been praying
for her and the baby a lot lately, so now after we are done saying the bedtime
prayer Olivia always says, “See-rawl, See-rawl!” (Cheryl) to indicate that she’s
ready to pray for Cheryl and the baby.
It is the sweetest.
After
that I rock her and breathe in her yummy scent for a few minutes, and then I
lay her down in her crib. She sleeps
with three lovies – Sheepie, Lambie, and Baby (we’re so original with the names)
– and she likes for me to place Sheepie in her left arm, Lambie in her right
arm, and Baby on her chest. Then for
some reason she lifts her legs up in the air until I say, “Put your legs down.” Then she lifts them even higher, and I have
to say, “Put your legs down” one more time.
Once I’ve said it for the second time, she gives me a big grin, slams
her legs down, I put her blanket over her, and we blow kisses to each other
before I leave the room.
T H R E E – The Kids’
Favorite Toy
The
kids’ very favorite thing to do each day when they get home from school is to
run in our front sitting room, and play with the Hot Wheels Garage that Jacob
got for Christmas. That is the best gift
that either of them has ever received, hands down! They play with that thing for hours at a time! A lot of the time they fight, but a lot of
the time they get along, and it’s really sweet.
Olivia
always says, “Gwaaaajsh, minute?” (Can I
play with the garage for a minute?) and it’s quite possibly one of the funniest
things ever.
F O U R – Drying Olivia’s Hair
Since
it’s winter now and Olivia’s hair has gotten really long, we have started using
the hair dryer to dry her hair after her bath so she doesn’t have to go to bed
with a wet head. Lately Jacob has been
running in and wanting me to dry his hair too.
Olivia was terrified of it at first, but now she requests to have it
done. This is a relatively new thing
that we’ve started doing, but I have a feeling it’s going to last for a while.
F I V E – Jacob’s New Game
Just
about a week ago, Jacob started asking Olivia, “Do you wanna play accidents
with me?” The first time Brian and I
heard it, we looked at each other in horror wondering what in the world he was
talking about. We asked him if some of
the kids in school play that, but he told us that he made it up himself.
Apparently
“Accidents” is where you stand up on the seat of Olivia’s ride along elephant
and then you jump into the ball pit.
Lol. We don’t let them do that,
of course, but it’s hilarious every time we hear him ask her if she wants to
play “accidents” with him.
Sometimes
we’ll be going up the stairs before bath time and he’ll yell, “Yay! Let’s go play accidents!”
Little
things like these are the things that I know I’ll forget about one day if I don’t
document them, and who would want to forget about the game of accidents?! #Classic
*Linking up with A Liz Adventures for Five On Friday and A Little Bit of Everything for Friday Favorites.
