Every Night at 7pm

It takes a little bit of rallying to get her to the tub. It's not that she doesn't like to take baths, it's just that she doesn't want to stop what she's doing. But, eventually, I get her there. If she ate all of her dinner, she gets a bubble bath. She stands there and watches the water and jumps up and down as she chants for the bubbles to be poured in. If she had a bad night (food-wise), I'll explain to her that she does not get bubbles tonight because she did not eat all of her dinner.

"Ellie didn't eat chicken, Mommy?"

"No, Ellie did not eat chicken."

"Yeah, Ellie can't want chicken for dinner today, Mommy."

I love how she says she "can't want" things instead of "don't want." If I am trying to get her to try something new, often she will exclaim, "I CAN'T! I CAN'T WANT IT!" It thrills my heart to no end.

Into the tub she goes. We dump a bunch of toys into the water and she plays, almost ignoring me as I scrub her hair and her back and her arms. All I have to do is say, "hand" and she sticks her arm up at me, still busy playing with her other hand as I scrub up and down. I drop the hand and then say "other hand, please" as she lifts up her other hand to allow me to scrub. She never really makes eye contact in the bath. After her hair is rinsed, I let her play for a few more minutes, depending on how late it is or how tired I am.

She helps clean up the toys as we sing "Clean up, Clean up, Everybody, Everywhere..." and then she stands up and uses the cup to pour water into the toy basket. I have no idea why she likes doing this, but it's one of her favorite things.

I pull her out of the tub (usually against her wishes) and we say "Warm, warm, warm" together as I wrap her in the towel. Next, she scampers into her room as I put on a fresh diaper and fresh pajamas. She can hardly contain her excitement to run into her bathroom and stand on the stool. She stands up, and eagerly awaits the toothbrush and toothpaste. This is always a hit or miss part of the evening. Sometimes she waves it around too much and the toothpaste falls off of the toothbrush. Sometimes she tries to brush and ends up brushing her lips or her nose. She is reluctant to allow me to help her. Most of the time she does a so-so job at brushing her teeth while I brush her hair. I marvel at how long it really is when it's wet and she doesn't have her famous curls. I tell her to "brush the top" and "brush the bottom"... reminding her to brush her top and bottom teeth... normally she responds with "I just brush my tongue." We're learning, folks.

After she's all brushed up, she runs to find her Daddy and gives him a big hug. We all go back to her room while we read a few books. I limit the books to 3 or we will be here all night. We read the books and she points at things and wants me to say what they are, even if she already knows. She'll correct me if I say the wrong thing.

"What's that, Mommy?"
"It's a bird."
"No, it's not a bird."
"Yep, that's a bird."
"No, Mommy, that's a parrot."

Well, then.

 If she asks for it, we rock for a few minutes. ("I have to rock, Mommy."

 I sing songs at her request. "Twinka Twinka, Mommy?" "Tender Shepherd, Mommy?" "Ellie song, Mommy?"

That's the one I've been singing to her since she was a baby... to the tune of the Mickey Mouse Club theme song.

Who's the sweetest baby girl you ever did see?
E-L-L-I-E, P-A-I-G-E!
Ellie Paige (that's you!)
Ellie Paige (that's you!)
She is the sweetest baby girly, girly
Who's the sweetest baby girl you ever did see?
E-L-L-I-E, P-A-I-G-E!

I lower her into the crib, and she gets super hyper at this point. She grabs bunny and blanket and paci and demands that we say prayers. She folds her hands, and sometimes takes bunny and folds bunny's hands as well. Daddy prays. We pray for our friends and our family, we thank God for the fun things we got to do that day and the food we got to eat and the things that were provided for us. We ask that God helps us to stay healthy and have a good night's sleep. "Good night's sleep" is always the last part of the prayer, and she knows that. As soon as we say "good night's sleep", she automatically starts in with the in-unison ending... "In Jesus' Name we pray, Ayyyyyyy-men."

Then, she flops herself down onto her belly. "Nug is a bug in a wug, Mommy!"

I drape her blanket over her, and tuck the sides into her little body as I say, "SNUG as a BUG in a RUG!"

She giggles. I say goodnight. She YELLS goodnight. I turn on the white noise machine and turn off the light. She normally asks for one more hug and kiss. We go back in the room, hug and kiss her, and then I have to do "Snug as a bug in a rug" all over again. I don't mind.

I don't mind any of it.