Bed time bonding :-)

Here is our "Sleeping Beauty" :-))
I do like bedtime. For the most part, anyway. I don't like telling the kids 5 times to brush their teeth or to pick up their dirty clothes. So yes, sometimes it feels more like running around in circles, and by the time the snuggling and reading and kissing and praying and tucking in part starts, I'm exhausted. And maybe, just maybe a bit cranky, too.
Motherhood...
I want to share some of our bedtime routines with Nina. Whenever she naps, she goes to bed pretty late (10ish...). I don't like that, it's too late for me, but for our bonding, it's been a good thing.
Sometimes we go outside and water the flowers together, with her in the sling. We have watched a movie together, that no one else will watch (like Pooh sing-alongs - she loves it!). We snuggle on the couch while she drinks her bottle of warm milk.
These times remind my of my late nights with my teeny tiny babies, and they are just as precious to me. It relaxes her, because our days are usually pretty crazy and wild and busy.
In the beginning, I always layed down with her in our bed when it was time to sleep. She is so funny... she rolls around, talks and talks and talks, and likes to hum and sing. She loves "The Busy Spider" (Eric Carle) and "Goodnight moon". She started this little game, where she snuggles up really close and then it goes like that"
N: "Mama"
Me: "What?"
N: gibber, gibber, gibber, gibber (no clue if she makes it up or if it's chinese", and then she starts to giggle.
Then silence
N: "Mama"
Me: "What?"
N: gibber, gibber...... you get the picture.
We can go on like that for a LONG time, and she doesn't get tired of it! The first time she did this I just laughed and laughed. It was so cute!
Eventually, she rolls over, hanging on to her blanket, and goes to sleep.
She also loves to pray with me, and folds her little hand so sincerely. Tonight it really sounded like she was praying. She was saying all the kids' names and then something I did not understand. It was so sweet. I'm sure God knew exactly what she meant!
Lately we have started to put her to bed and then leave her. She still sleeps in our bed, so she is just around the corner from the living room. I leave the door open, and she usually has to make sure I'm there. That goes like that:
N: "Mama!"
Me: "Mama is right here, Nina!"
N: "Oh!"
And that can go on for quite a while too, sometimes she asks every minute, sometimes its 5 or 10 minutes, and then she falls asleep. Tonight she was not impressed with me leaving her in there, but she settled down quickly. She still does her sad little sobbing thing every so often, and it's so hard to know what she is sad about.
She loves to give hugs and kisses at bedtime with the cutest pursed lips, and we always exchange lots of "Lob'you's" (=love you).
I'm so thankful that she has known love and affection before we met her. It's obvious in her behavior.
She is so sweet.
And fiesty sometimes.
Good for her...