Nighty Night!

The books all recommend a consistent bedtime routine for babies, so that they can begin to calm down; the day is nearly done and it is time for bed. At least that's what I guess the idea is.

Typical bedtime routines involve taking a bath, brushing teeth, maybe a last drink of milk or water, and a bedtime book. I try to follow that routine but it doesn't always work too well. The idea is to get baby to calm down and ready for sleep. We find that Conor wants to play, play, play until he is wiped out.

After his bath and brushing teeth, he gets another hour of running around the living room, chasing and throwing balls, playing with cars or exploring some other favored toy. Once he shows signs of starting to be tired (usually between 7:30 and 8), one of us gets a little sippy cup with milk, and his blanket and heads upstairs with him to his room. If it's me, we like to rock in the chair for a few minutes and listen to some music (Caspar Babypants), or I like to sing a few lullabies to him. It is almost my favorite time of day sitting in the semi-lit room, singing some favorite songs to my little guy. Here is a quick list with links to some of our/my favorites:

Skye Boat Song
Tur-a-lura-lura
All the Pretty Horses
Dance to your Daddy
My Darling
Golden Slumbers
There's a Kind of Hush

He's very sweet when I sing to him. He either really does fall asleep to the singing, or is faking it to get me to stop, ha ha. Next I'm looking for a simple Greek lullaby to balance out the celtic-ness of our night time drill.