Every night for the past several decades (or so it seems...), our bedtime routine with Jack has been rather set in stone. And lest I forget the sweetness of it all, here it will be archived for my reading pleasure for years to come.
After bath, Jason helps Jack brush and floss before heading to his bed to get his blankie (with his favorite corner...and if you ever see it, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about - the nasty corner with the hole and ratty looking strings that he likes to chew on while rubbing his cheek with the rest of the corner) and his JK (his pacifier...we're not real clear on why he started calling it his JK, but that's been it's name for over a year now; I had written a "J" on a couple of new "pappies" right before he turned 2, and those were to just be used for bedtime since his others were deteriorating quickly. So, not sure if he deduced that since K comes after J, it just made since, or if it's because J and K are both in his name. Whatever.)
So, once in bed, he asks Daddy to read the Bible. We've got this fabulous little preschoolers' beginner bible that has stories that are just a few pages long and has big pictures. My intentions when buying it were for us to read a story a night...but Jack has gotten hung up on a couple of favorites that we're having a hard time working past. The first one that he loved was the story of Noah; the funny thing is, his favorite part was the first page that had a picture of 2 men fighting and the narration is something about people disobeying and forgetting God. Go figure.
However, our current favorite is the story of Jonah. He loves to be the one to "read" certain parts (that he has memorized), like when it's time to say "Ninevah," or the whale went "GULP" and swallowed Jonah, and when he "SPIT" Jonah out onto dry land. He loves to point out and read the first capitalized letter on each page and, for whatever reason, points out every lower-case "g" on each page, as well. He likes to talk about God forgiving the people of Ninevah for disobeying.
Once we put the bible away, he asks me (every night) to read "the mommy book." I'll be honest, I might have been the one to get him started on this one. I can't even look at the cover of "I'll Love You Forever" without tears coming to my eyes. So, every night I read it, every night he points out the capital letters and the g's on every page, and every night, when I read "My mommy you'll be," he'll exclaim right back, "my MOMMY you'll be?!". And every night I say, "Yep. No matter how old you are, you and Will will always be my babies and I will ALWAYS be your mommy."
The light goes off, and I ask, "Who's saying prayers?", KNOWING that he will, every night, say, "Daddy, YOU say 'em." And so he does. And then, as soon as J finishes, Jack then says, "Mommy, now YOU say 'em." And I do. And every night I finish my prayer with a hopeful, "and help us all get a great night's sleep so we can have a great day tomorrow. Amen."
And then Jack asks, "Mommy, can we sing a song?"
"Yes, Jack, what would you like to sing?"
"King of Wonders. You sing it, Mommy, and you sing it, Daddy."
"Okay, Jack, but you sing it, too."
"King of Wonders, we stand amazed. There's no other, other than you. King of wonders, you know the way to our hearts. And the more we see, the more we love you." Every night.
"Mommy, can you please sing 'O, be careful'?"
"Sure, Jack. O be careful little feet where you go; O be careful little feet where you go. For the Father up above is looking down with love; o be careful little feet where you go." And every night, it is the only acceptable verse of the song. But it sure is a good one...
"Night night, buddy. I love you so much." And sometimes, just like my Pud, I'll add, "Sleep big like a pig and large like a barge!".
It could all change without warning tomorrow night. But for now, it fits just right.
