The Anatomy of a Put Down

Once upon a time there was a little girl who loved to go to bed.  She would, if her parents lost track of time,  declare that it was bedtime and head toward her room, eagerly take part in her bedtime routine, and drift off into a peaceful and nightlong sleep. It is no longer "Once upon a time," and bedtimes have been a bit more challenging of late.  I have been longing for those "once upon a time" bedtimes, and came across some remnants of the good ole days...

First, it was into those soft and shiny pink pajamas which have accompanied many many little girls to bed as they've traveled down the line from cousin to cousin and from sister to sister.

Then it was time to gather one's friends.

Next, the bedtime story, read by her favorite narrator.

Then a bit of narration of her own...

Prayers followed.

 "Hugs, Daddy."

"Now, wub nothes."

 Finally, off to sleep.

Ahhhh the good ole days of bedtime...way back in September.  

September, when the passies were in full bloom 

and Mr. Sandman had perfect attendance. 

Here in January things are different!

Mr. Sandman has been truant, at best. The soft pink pajamas have been handed down and now live outside of these walls. The passies, a whole seperate post for the telling, have left us. The child who asked to be put down has grown into the child who needs a drink and her blankets straightened and her pillow adjusted and her doll is lost in the covers and...and...and...

Lord Byron once said, 

Most glorious night!

Thou wert not sent for slumber!

I think Molly heartily agrees!

(Molly sitting at the foot of my bed this weekend, awakened by fever, yet alert enough to discuss the plot of the cartoon on TV with me at 1:30 a.m.  Did you know that there are kid's shows on TV... ALL NIGHT LONG? I didn't before this weekend, but I do now!)

Jumpin' Jammies!

There seems to have been an outbreak of frogs 'round the Wright Place of late.  It happens, that as bed time approaches, the frogs begin to take over.  Just the other night, I saw some on the stairs. . .

Later, the same night, I discovered more in the girls' room.  These were even larger than the first ones, and I began to grow concerned...

They had large smiles on their faces and seemed friendly enough, so I didn't mind letting them sleep by the girls' bed that night. 

I saw a few others headed into the kids' bathroom. . .

I did, however, become completely overwhelmed when just a few days later,  I discovered still more pesky amphibians in the upstairs hallway.

Would you look at the eyes on those things? 

The "rest of the story" is as follows:

I sent my Man and my two middle daughters to the grocery store  one day.  My Man, aware of a pajama deficit at home and a rather big sale at a store "on the hill", swung by that store on the way to get the groceries. 

When he left the first store, the frog pajamas were tagging along in a bag my Man was carrying, as were those sassy slippers.  Two very excited little ladies were bursting at the seams when they arrived home with their prizes and the groceries.

The next morning, my Man's parents arrived for another one of Cole's ridiculously early, cold and rainy, flag football games (thus contending for the Grandparents of the Year Award). 

After a bit of lunch, we headed "up the hill" once more for an additional round of shopping.  My Mother-in-law is a shopppppppper!  She finds neat things, great sales, and seems to have a great time in the process.  The children love to shop with Mamma.  On this trip, even the baby doll  got a new dress!

It was during that shopping trip that the last installment of frogs joined us.  Those vibrant pink and green froggy robes completed the girls' collection.  Oh, the joy.  Kate had been asking for a robe for weeks and daddy came through with a robe that suited her perfectly and matched her slippers.

The only hitch in the plan was that I couldn't remember to get those precious robes out of the shopping bag and into the washer.  Kate, who had been promised the night before that she'd have her newly cleaned robe the next day, only to be disappointed, decided to take matters into her own hands at bedtime. 

I saw her creeping back down the stairs after being instructed to "Get in BED!"  Risking life and limb, she trekked to the basement, the laundry capital of our state, and retrieved the robes.  She laid them in the middle of the hallway floor as I was trying to put Molly to bed.  My little Clothes Queen placed the robes in such a way that I had to step over them to leave the nursery.  I said, "Why.......?"  

She said, "To help your remembering."

Now these fabulous frogs are fabric fresh and feeling fine

on the feminine frames of a few frauleins!

(Sorry, got a little carried away with that one.  Must be all those frogs staring back at me from the computer screen!!)

When You're the Fourth

It was the day after the zoo trip. Really, it was the evening after the zoo trip when I was doing dishes after dinner. My Man was off to a meeting, Cole was at my Mom and Dad's, the oldest girls were in the living room getting their Hannah Montana fix for the day, and Molly was playing happily in the corner of the kitchen...or so I thought.

Kate came running into the room like a dainty elephant as is her norm, to ask for some after dinner chewing gum. When I heard those feet stop short of her intended target, I turned from the sink to see what had captured her attention. At the same time she began, "Mom, did you know that. . ." and she looked down in the direction of my heels. I followed her gaze and saw...

. . .{actually, before I show you what I saw, pleeeeease remember that it was the day after the zoo trip which was quite a day if you recall. If you don't recall, click here. Yes, it was after dinner and yes, everyone in the picture is wearing pjs -including me. Let me assure you that we did brush our teeth early in the day and I think I had done my hair. Sometimes we celebrate Pajama Day here at the Wright Place when we've had a particularly exhausting day, the day before. On these rare occasions (only on days beginning with M, and sometimes S if it's football season), we simply remain in our pjs for the entire live long day-trust me it's therapeutic. Until the UPS guy knocks on your door...}

Now let's see, where were we...

. . .she looked down in the direction of my heels. I followed her gaze and saw...

Poor baby! I hadn't even realized she was there. I guess she had just decided not to bother me with such a tiny detail as bedtime. That she didn't rise up and run when Kate came thundering in as she has learned to do in the interest of self-preservation, can only bear witness to her level of exhaustion.

Self-preservation is probably going to be a necessary theme for this little one, because when you're the fourth, sometimes you've just got to take matters into your own hands!

{Anyone have a good caption for this one??? Anyone??}

Bedtime

In a family of six, bedtime is either pure calm or complete chaos. Molly is 9 months old today. Kate is a bouncing four years. Meg is nine, a new nine, toes on the edge of all that makes one a young lady. Cole, ever the old soul is ten. I'm not certain how it is that we've been parents for a decade, but it seems that we have. I sat in Molly's nursery tonight at bedtime and watched what looked much like ants in an anthill as the "big kids" scurried to and fro while Darrin attempted to put them into bed. It seemed that each time he put one into bed another would "pop up" and appear out into the hallway and then disappear into another room only to be shooed back to their own room eventually. I watched all of this from the rocking chair holding a freshly awakened Molly who was wise enough not to miss this show. Finally, everyone was kissed, tucked in and prayed with and Darrin and I walked gently down the stairs fully expecting to be followed by at least an ant or two.