Night-night..

A description of 1-year-old Jack's nighttime routine:

Right around 7 o'clock, Jack lets me know he's tired with some eye rubs and a little whine. He reaches out his arms towards me when I come near and when I pick him up his face goes straight to my chest. He's a very subtle guy. We head into the nursery and settle into the glider. He nurses and I sing a few lullabies. He sometimes grabs my nose and likes it when I "honk" at him. That will make him smile and giggle with the boob still in his mouth which is, I must say, just about the cutest thing in the world. At one point Corydon wanders into the room and quickly lands one emphatic lick on the top of his head. This makes Jack want to sit up and enthusiastically pat her on the head. Once they two kids finish their little love fest, its back to nursing for Jack while Cor curls up at our feet. When he's all full Jack sits up and we look through one or two books, depending on how tired he is. A new favorite is The Very Hungry Caterpillar. He is fascinated by the holes in the pages where the caterpillar has eaten through the food.

Then, it's off to the changing table. Jack doesn't much like diaper changes these days, but at bedtime he relaxes and seems to enjoy chatting with me and playing while we change the dipe, wash off dirty legs and and sticky fingers with a wipe (if its not a bath night), and rub on his baby oil. He loves to play "this little piggy" and this evening he really got into a spirited rendition of "Shoes, glorious shoes" (a mommy original), brandishing one of his Robeez and even singing along with carefully chaped vowel sounds. On with the PJ's and a few kisses later I pick him up and we say goodnight to the room. He loves to grab and play with random items on his changing table, such as his thermometer, his Fluff dust deodorizer, his diaper creme... the best way to get him to relenquish his item of choice is to tell him to say goodnight to it. Tonight as we put the Fluff dust away he gave it a little wave, and then continued waving and vocalizing something that sounded a bit like "night night" as we said goodnight to his lamp, his radio, the window, the door. Tonight when I asked him for a hug he leaned right in and wrapped those little arms around me, and gave two little pats, before leaning towards his crib. I lay him down and snug him into his sleep sack and he stands up at his rail for one more hug and a couple of kisses. Then I give him his bear or his blanket and say goodnight. As I leave he is standing and giggling a little bit at me. He'll be asleep in a few minutes and will stay that way til around 3am...