The bedtime routine starts when Sera's watch alarm beeps at 7:15 and we say it is time for Alice to watch Dinosaur Train and eat her 'bednight' snack. Alice then wraps up her play, runs to the refrigerator to get out a yogurt (currently Dora-themed), gets a spoon out of the drawer and then climbs into her chair. In the meantime Sera or I get the laptop and open Netflix to start an episode of Dinosaur Train. The video/snack combination is apparently quite compelling and Alice rarely needs much coaxing. We count this as one of our successes as parents as we have largely avoided the drama and negotiation often associated with getting kids into bed.While Alice watches her video I grab Simon and give him a bath and Sera gets Simon's bed ready (water filled, nightlights on, etc.) and gets the daycare bags prepared for the next day. Simon's bath normally finishes at the same time as Alice's video. Alice then comes into the bathroom and we convince her to take her clothes off and hop on the potty. Sera and I switch kids as she takes Simon into his room to get dressed and fed and put to bed. While Alice uses the potty I snip the rubber band out of her hair. Right after Alice gets into the bath I wash her hair and face.
While Alice is in the bath I get her bed ready, refill her water, turn on her nightlight and get her pajamas ready. I also get her nighttime diaper out. We started using name brand overnight diapers a long time ago when she kept saturating the regular diapers and waking up with a wet bed and pajamas. Each pack contains diapers alternately decorated with characters from Monsters Inc., Toy Story and Cars. Alice has only ever seen the Cars characters in action and so the diapers with Mater and Lightning McQueen are highly valued. She will tolerate the lesser diapers only if she is satisfied that there are no "Mater diapers" available.
Some nights Alice will play in the bath for a long time. I will brush my teeth, play games on my phone, read a book or do chores. When she is done with her bath Alice climbs out and I dry her off. We then put her pajamas on. This is much easier in the summer as she now sleeps in only a diaper and a nightgown (she finally switched over on June 5th when it was 85 degrees int he house. The night before she had slept with her winter jammies partially unzipped). The winter PJ's were more difficult because A) there were three pieces of clothing instead of one B) it was cold and C) there was more than one way to put on the footie pajamas (feet first, hands first, easy foot first, hard foot first, standing, sitting, on my lap, in the bedroom, in the bathroom, in the hall, etc.) and she would often protest and/or try to help if things weren't happening as she liked.
After she is dressed I brush her teeth and hair. A long time ago I would just brush her teeth while she was in the bath. At first (when she was a baby) she squirmed and fought but it eventually became a tolerated part of the routine. After a few months she decided that she wanted to help and then would hold the brush as I moved it; this was fine when she didn't try to move it herself. But she often did move it herself and would regularly end up being poked as we fought over control. The toothpaste was safe to swallow but at some point I wanted to get her used to spitting so we could eventually buy some with fluoride. At first I tried getting Alice to spit over the edge of the tub but it wasn't too long before we had her stand at the sink. When she became better at spitting I bought fluoride toothpaste which she rejected because of the new taste. I tried other brands and she rejected them all and we ended up with four different tubes. Now she likes all the different flavors and will insist on using all of them every night. We have also evolved to the point where she "brushes" her teeth by herself and then I brush them. She is getting better and better at the brushing herself part.Here's a video from one night recently:
After the teeth are brushed and her mouth is rinsed it is time to read three books. Then she wants vaseline on her nose and lotion on her hands (routines started in winter when that made more sense then.) After that, she roles over and snuggles for a minute while you scratch her back. Then she'll whisper, "Put me in my crib, please" and you deposit her there, make sure all the toys are up by her pillow, cover her with her blanky, scratch her back one more time, then go out the door.
