Evenings in our household have become quite a challenge lately as our toddler has decided it is the best moment to get some alone time with mommy and daddy. Usually around dinner time the baby's witching hour will start. So often I nurse while eating (and trying not to spill anything on him) and urging our toddler to eat something too - which if it's not lasagna, risotto, sausages or french fries is more or less impossible. Then when dinner is done, it's time to prepare the toddler for bed (while the baby is still/again screaming). Hubby (when he's not away for business) usually takes charge of getting him into his PJs, brushing his teeth etc. but I have to do story time. At that point he will have told us at least five times already that he doesn't want to go to bed - "Je veux pas dormir mamam" has become his new mantra.
Once we've read one or two stories, I have to sing him a song, at least twice. Then he wants me to remain seated on the sofa next to his bed. When I get up after five minutes and leave the room, he will either start crying or get out of bed too. This is repeated several times… (and I've tried different techniques and they don't make much difference, the only thing is that if I get angry, he just laughs at me) and usually it takes an hour before he finally goes to sleep [I assume this is just a phase and is all due to the arrival of the baby, before that the toddler's bedtime routine was very easy].
Then I have to put the baby to bed, which compared to the routine described above, is quite simple - change diaper, put him in PJs (usually that's already done), nurse, burp, swaddle, put him down in co-sleeper.
One day last week I was dead tired, had lost patience a few times with the toddler, before he had finally given in and went to sleep, and I was craving a little me-time before I would crash and go to sleep myself. The baby, whom I'd put down already, was crying, so I went to our bedroom to give him back his pacifier. I wanted to leave the room again, but he spit the paci out, looked at me (the way only babies can) and started 'talking'. It was just the two of us, the craziness of the previous hours gone and he completely calmed me down. After a few minutes he just closed his eyes and went to sleep.
Despite my fatigue I went to bed smiling that evening. It was my Perfect Moment.
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On the 4th Monday of each month we engage in mindfulness about something that is right with our world. Everyone is welcome to join. Perfect Moment Monday is about noticing a perfect moment rather than creating one. Perfect moments can be momentous or ordinary or somewhere in between. What Perfect Moment have you recently been aware of? Visit Write Mind Open Heart and share your comment love. The next Perfect Moment Monday event will be on April 23.
