Ever since Izzy was about -- I don't know, maybe five, six months old, we've had the exact same nighttime routine. Because of this (and other reasons like her temperament) she's gone down to sleep fairly well; as a matter of fact, she was sleeping through the night by the time she was about four months old.
Usually we would feed her her dinner first, before we eat. Madeline and I will eat dinner while she watches Sesame Street; I know, it's not a good idea to give kids too much TV, but it relaxes Izzy and gives us a breather while we eat in relative peace.
Then it's bathtime, which happens every other night: Madeline runs Izzy's bath (I'm a slow eater, so I'm usually still trying to finish up), and then once the tub is full, we take Izzy to her changing table. The naked baby is brought to the tub, washed (she doesn't like water over her face, though, so it's hard to shampoo her hair), and given time to play (she loves bubbles and her rubber duckie), and finally pulled out of the tub (she's usually complaining by this time, because she loves splashing around), and changed into her sleeper.
We try to read to her afterwards, though this doesn't always work; her attention span is growing, however. Now she can go and pull books off the shelf, give them to us and say "book." Her favorite books, it seems, are "Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb" (can't remember the author right now) and Dr. Seuss's "Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You?" (She can actually say "moo" if I point to the word, but Madeline won't believe me.) Margaret Wise Brown's "Goodnight Moon" and "The Runaway Bunny" get a lot of read-time too, as well as Peter McCarty's "Baby Steps" and "Hondo and Fabian."
Then it's time for bed: one of us gets the milk, while the other sits in the rocking chair with her. After she finishes her bottle (and usually by this time she's almost asleep), we clean her teeth with a wet cloth, put her in the crib, turn on her music box, and stroke her back a little until she's finally asleep.
We've managed to come up with a little repertoire of songs that work while putting her to sleep; a song she really likes "The Itsy-Bitsy Spider" or "Old McDonald" would be too lively. I've found as well that many of the pre-WW2 standards or anything after, say, 1974 -- just about the whole fount of songwriting from which I can draw -- are too lively or way too slow.
"Close to You," "Top of the World" and "The Rainbow Connection" work very well; Madeline also likes "Sing" and "Yellow Submarine." (The latter she adapted with lyrics about Shelby wanting more food to eat, but I won't quote them here. But see how the first four draw straight from the singer-songwriter tradition of the late '60s and early '70s?) I've also started singing her one of my dad's favorite songs, "Red Sails in the Sunset" (the Nat King Cole version).
And I'll end with a bit of that here:
Red sails in the sunset Way out on the sea Go carry my loved one Home safely to me.
Good night, little Izzy.
Posted by the wily filipino at February 26, 2003 08:44 PM