The ritual of touch.
We are big on bed time. (Mostly because our kids turn into monsters when they are tired...and so do we!) We love to snuggle up, tell stories and be tangled up close We've read laugh-out-loud books, we hide under a blanket "tent" and tell stories, we play the "I love you as much as... (all the ants in Africa) game", and then we say goodnight. Our big boy went through a phase of saying, "Nite, nite, Love Fleabite"...from one of our loved and worn and taped up books. Our girl went through a phase of saying, "Kiss the girl, da, da." Our little one is going through a phase of just completely NOT going to sleep.
We now dread bedtime. It is a battle zone. All the people I have given "sleep training" advice to over the years, can you call me back, and give me some fresh advice, because nothing is working. We have done prize charts, we follow the same routine...I could go on here, but we have done it all. Now? We co-sleep. Actually, I sleep on a bed next to my bed that has been commandeered. We lay there in "jail" until the "jailer" does a little leg shake and falls asleep. I try and treasure it. I try and use that time as prayer time. I try to tell myself that it won't last forever. But, he needs it. In fact, he wants to pull an arm over him as his blanket. He wants to cup my face in his hands. He wants the heat and smell and feel of a parent next to him.
Oh yeah, we have two other kids. That still crave connection. (Don't we all?) One thing the big ones both love is to play games on each other's backs. We write words, we draw pictures and our favorite?: we plant gardens. Sometimes the stories are quite elaborate.
One spring, Farmer Bob planted his garden. First, he weeded and tilled and prepared the soil. Then, he planted some green beans here (pinch, pinch), some eggplant here (tickle, tickle), some corn up in the far field (scratch, scratch) and some beets right here....
Eventually we will stop being tortured by our three year old, and hopefully a new crop of gardens can spring up on his squishy little freckle-back.
We are big on bed time. (Mostly because our kids turn into monsters when they are tired...and so do we!) We love to snuggle up, tell stories and be tangled up close We've read laugh-out-loud books, we hide under a blanket "tent" and tell stories, we play the "I love you as much as... (all the ants in Africa) game", and then we say goodnight. Our big boy went through a phase of saying, "Nite, nite, Love Fleabite"...from one of our loved and worn and taped up books. Our girl went through a phase of saying, "Kiss the girl, da, da." Our little one is going through a phase of just completely NOT going to sleep.
We now dread bedtime. It is a battle zone. All the people I have given "sleep training" advice to over the years, can you call me back, and give me some fresh advice, because nothing is working. We have done prize charts, we follow the same routine...I could go on here, but we have done it all. Now? We co-sleep. Actually, I sleep on a bed next to my bed that has been commandeered. We lay there in "jail" until the "jailer" does a little leg shake and falls asleep. I try and treasure it. I try and use that time as prayer time. I try to tell myself that it won't last forever. But, he needs it. In fact, he wants to pull an arm over him as his blanket. He wants to cup my face in his hands. He wants the heat and smell and feel of a parent next to him.
Oh yeah, we have two other kids. That still crave connection. (Don't we all?) One thing the big ones both love is to play games on each other's backs. We write words, we draw pictures and our favorite?: we plant gardens. Sometimes the stories are quite elaborate.
One spring, Farmer Bob planted his garden. First, he weeded and tilled and prepared the soil. Then, he planted some green beans here (pinch, pinch), some eggplant here (tickle, tickle), some corn up in the far field (scratch, scratch) and some beets right here....
Eventually we will stop being tortured by our three year old, and hopefully a new crop of gardens can spring up on his squishy little freckle-back.