Gwen's are the most elaborate. We thought we had it bad with the numerous "beeps" we had to give each night (a beep is when we touch her nose with our finger). We thought it had gone too far when she wanted to give us foot beeps (touching our nose with her feet, ew!). Lately the nighttime ritual has grown more elaborate and despite it being somewhat frustrating at times, its pretty darn cute.
First we must pray. And it must be a "good pray", not one of those, "Thank you Lord for this day. Amen" prayers. Then she reminds me of the 5 steps. The prayer, then the Eskimo kiss, then the regular kiss, then the hug, then the beep. But that is not all folks. Recently she added another procedure all on her own. She tousles your hair. Then she pinches your ear. Her fingers are run over your eyebrows and you are told, "They feel different". Then she compares the temperature of your forehead to hers. "Hot" "hot" "They match!". (Note: both our heads are always hot). She runs a finger down my ski-jump nose ("whee!"), then touches each nostril. Then she asks that I open my mouth very wide and not bite her finger. But she really does want me to bite her finger, so I do when she tries to put it in my mouth.
So after that 20 minute routine is done, the baby is easy in comparison. I hate to say anything and risk jinxing it, but Elsa has been going down really easy. I lay her down, pat her back, and leave. Almost too good to be true there.
Ethan doesn't like a lot of fuss in the evenings. Usually he wants me to sing, hug, kiss, and pray. A lot of the time we talk about what happened during our day, especially if he got in trouble or I lost my temper with him. We ask forgiveness, if needed, and all the bad air is cleared before we go to bed. Ethan and I butt heads the most, so its nice to end on a good note.
Many nights these little routines seem like a big hassle, but really they are sweet and show the personalities of each of our children.
In other news, Gwen had her first dance class on Thursday. She loved it and looked so cute in her outfit.
I don't know that we'll be returning to the dance studio though. It was extremely professional, which is not a bad thing. However, I think its perhaps a little too intense for what we want for Gwen at this stage. There are also some things, like parents not being allowed to view the class and having to pay to see the kids perform, that don't sit well with me. In a few years, if Gwen really wants to do dance intensely, this would be the place. For now, I think we'll seek out more gentle pastures for her to frolic.
Grammy invited me to go to a brunch at her church today and I had a wonderful time. I got to meet many of her friends and hear an entertaining speaker/comedian/writer by the name of Jenn Doucette. I could relate to so much of what she was saying! Anyway, it was fun morning out with a lady I sure love a lot :)
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