Bedtime terrors

Bedtime terrors, not to be confused with night terrors, is the state of stress that I enter into when bedtime comes around each day.

Photo Credit: Markus YK via Compfight cc

V, who has decided that she wants to be known as big sister since the birth of her brother, is the main trigger of my terrors.

First we say bedtime prayers, she thinks I pray too long, so she always says " mummy, I'll pray today, okay? and you tomorrow', never mind that I said the prayers yesterday. Sometimes I then say, 'no dear, it's mummy's turn today', to which she will reply 'okay, but please pray a short prayer, three minutes long'. Since she turned three, three minutes have become the perfect time interval for her. Not too short and not too long. Just right.

After prayers, it's time for a bed time story. I have managed to reduce our reading requirement to two books per night, or about four stories, if I am reading a collection of sort stories. You might think that is a large amount, but actually, it is quite an achievement that we have managed to agree on the amount. I left her with a babysitter in January, and came back to find out that the poor girl had read seven books and my daughter was still awake.

Let me say at this point that DH and I are avid readers, and the first year of her life, when big sister showed no interest at all in books, preferring to try to catwalk in my shoes instead, I was quite worried and hoped she would develop an interest in books. Well, it is a clear case of be careful what you wish for :)

After the books, it is time for her to listen to her Benjamin the Elephant(original German, Benjamin Bluemchen, Benjamin Blossom). I usually leave her to listen and go to the living room.

Then she calls me to turn the tape around!(how does one dub tapes to CDs, anyone?!)

Then she wants to be massaged. Matter of fact, even before she started to talk well, she would say ''sage me mummy', baby talk for 'massage me mummy'

Then she wants to drink water. Then her tummy hurts. Then she needs to cuddle. And so on......until she finally falls asleep. At which point my nerves are usually so frazzled that I need a hug myself!

Now try nursing a baby in addition to that.....and you might understand why I breath a sigh of relief when she's finally asleep.

That is until she wakes up thirsty and can't fall back asleep again. Sigh.