"What's Next?"

Nolan is a man of routine and this couldn't be more true than at bedtime.  Eric and I alternate who puts each kid to bed every night and whoever puts Nolan to bed goes through the same routine.  Each step of Nolan's routine is prompted by the question, "What's next?"  If you forget to ask Nolan "what's next?" he will quickly remind you to first ask him the question so that he can then move through his schedule of bedtime events.  Each bedtime with Nolan runs like this:

Potty

Brush teeth

Nolan picks out a book

Nolan jumps into his bed

Read the book

Ask Nolan, "What's next?"

He'll tell you it's time for him to drink some of his water.

"What's next?"

He needs to wipe his chin off with his "napkin" which is really a piece of folded up toilet paper.

"What's next?"

He'll tell you to tell him your favorite part of the day and then he shares his.

"What's next?"

He'll tell you to "talk about something" and then you are to precede to choose two different topics to discuss while he listens.  (Last night we talked about hanging shelves and snow).

"What's next?"

He'll tell you to "say prayers," which we do, and he always stops to include his friends James and Emma.  

"What's next?"

He'll tell you to rub his back (in the inside of his shirt) and lay with him for "two more minutes."

So you rub his back and lay with him and pray that when you get up to leave his room he doesn't give you a hard time and start to make excuses about going to bed (because he is known for doing this).

As you walk out of the room, he'll lay in bed with his little head poking out of the covers and say "good night, I love you" while you close the door behind you and it melts your heart.

Even though it is a 30-40 minute tedious process putting him to bed, and some nights I am just ready to throw him in there and relax on the couch because I am exhausted, I also know that I will miss this some day.  He is such a character and I love having conversations with him and our time at night in his bed before bedtime is where we have some of our best talks!

Nolan in his new little reading nook in his room.

Ready to start our step by step bedtime process!!