Yes… I can talk about it! I am a self confessed night owl… Dunno what it is… But my brain simply switches on at night and that’s it… nothing will make it shut down until every neurone is consumed… Unless of course I appeal to drugs (good ones… not bad ones! in any case… a little advise here… Kiddos: don’t do drugs!!) or a mallet to the head…
Big monkey can be just the same if I don’t actually make him go to bed… Even when we introduced routines and the like…
Now… We never really have had any problems wit the Little… He has pretty much created his own routine and stuck to it since like… well… ever… That… Like “Wear Sunscreen” is an advice I’d like to dispence.
It starts with One Word: Bath.
The moment this word is used (after dinner time… no earlier than that) he will get into power down mode and make his way to what I am sure is one of his favourite parts of the day… I man look at this smile as I give him some new Bucket (we don’t have a bath… so he has this big red bucket thing that he has his baths on) entertainment: Some brand new Flexibath Bath Toys that had just arrived on the post on that morning.
Whilst the bucket was filling he got acquainted with the toys that are free from PVC, Phthalates, BPA, heavy metals and other harmful and hazardous materials (and can be banged on the dishwasher to clean up! SCORE!)
I did have to have imaginary tea a few times while the bath filled up… But all part for the bed time fun! Bath is full so in we get…
Proof that Bath time might ACTUALLY be is favourite part of the day???
“Come one monkey… time to get out of the Bath…”
“NO!!!!” before I even manage to finish speaking… Doesn’t even sound like the little baby that would scream his head off when he used to hear the sound of the bath being filled up when he was littlest…
After having to grab him off the bath and tickle him into his PJs comes story time.
Yup… Little Monkey is a bit of a book worm… guess he takes after his mum on that one… But still I love it when he makes up loads of little stories pointing at the images in the book. We love caras and cats and dogs and ducks. They always make their way into the stories somehow. 
Next step is getting up and going around the house saying good night hugs and kisses to everyone before heading back to me for a final cuddle and tuck into bed.
I turn off the lights and leave the room… 5 minutes later I can usually hear his little snores and other sleepy noises…
I still don’t know how Littlest behaves at night… he has no problems falling asleep during the day when he is with me… so I am guessing is another one of those things he takes after Little Monkey… Can’t wait to be able to take my theory to the test when I finally can have him sleeping over at weekends.
I guess what I want to say is… best way to get to the Land of Nod is routine! It works on the kiddos right?!?! Why can’t it work on me too??? Oh… look… 2:30am and I am still awake… *sighs*
Do YOU have a night/sleep time routine before heading to bed????
