31 Days of Stories: When Bedtime Takes Forever

Tonight, Ava wore herself down by running and jumping on her beanbag chair. She finally got tired and we headed upstairs to start our bedtime routine. Overnight diaper, pjs, a little goofing with Daddy, all the stuffed animals, the blankie, and finally laying down with Mama for nursing and sleeping.

It started well.

Then she got a second wind.

"What's that, honey? Mama, what's that? I rub your back Mama?"

Well, I wasn't going to object to that one. She happily rubbed my back for 10 seconds, lost interest, and started bouncing. She stopped, rubbed my back again, petted my hair, and flopped back down. The next thing I knew I hear,

"Hold on Teddy!"

She put Teddy on her back and went on all fours like she was giving a horsey back ride to Teddy the way Daddy does for her. Teddy fell off and Ava fell over giggling. There's not much point getting frustrated when she's being this cute.

"DADDY!! Where are you?!"

"Honey, Daddy is downstairs."

"Ah go downstairs?"

"No, it's bedtime right now. Time to sleep."

Instant tears. She slid off my bed and sadly stood by the bedroom door yelling for Daddy. A quick distraction with the "buffalo game" (an animal sounds app on my phone) got her back into bed and starting to act sleepy again. She clicked through all her favorite animals on the app, and then handed me the phone.

"Mama, NUM!"

Finally! I laid down next to her again, and she cuddled in. Within five minutes there was nothing but the sound of slowed breathing, and within ten minutes I was able to sneak downstairs leaving a peacefully sleeping toddler behind me.