Routines

I have read that children do well with schedules and order; I have heard that they like it when they know what to expect. We have seen that first-hand with Joshua in different seasons of life. These days, David kind of "does" Joshua in the evening by taking charge of feeding, bathing, and putting him to bed. I do the same with Ellie. Tonight, I bathed Joshua. He started throwing his toys at me at one point, and I was pretty surprised and kind of irritated. I started to reprimand him, and David told me that he usually throws his toys into the bucket at the end of his bath. That made me feel a little better about my wet shorts! Things went smoothly from there as I held up the bucket for his clean-up routine. From bath to bed, Joshua marches his little self around the house because he knows exactly what comes next. It is sweet! After cleaning up the toys, this is how it goes:

• drain the water and watch it go
• lay down on stomach and feel the water level lower
• once the tub is empty, pretend to sleep several times before getting out of the tub
• dry of and race to the bedroom for diaper, pjs, lotion, and hair brushing
• go out to the living room and play for a few more minutes
• brush teeth
• kiss Mommy and Ellie good night
  
• back in the bedroom, read from the Bible
• clean up bedroom
• close curtains, turn on fan and sound machine, get "Lambie"
• turn of light, sing a song, pray,

Na Na! (Night night!)