Bedtime Routine for 2 Hungry Girls, and One Just Plain Nosey

This is the first time in about a month that I’ve gotten my 4 year old to go to bed, and stay there, before 10:30pm. It’s my fault however. Ever since the pregnancy I’ve had this overwhelming desire to sleep in. Now usually little miss missy is my alarm clock, greeting me at bedside with a whiney “mommy I wanna watch Noggin” at about 7am. And if I don’t hear from her by 7:30, my internal alarm clock goes off. But these days, my internal clock is broken, and she has taken complete advantage of it, sleeping in as late as 9am! Now on the other end of the candle, the little one inside my belly gets ravenous at about 11pm. And I’ve found that if I ignore her, she wakes me up at about 1am claiming to be starving to death – apparently she’s going to be dramatic like her big sister.

So last night, after getting little miss thingy to bed at 9pm without a fuss, I retreated to my computer, very pleased with the smoothness of the nights bedtime routine. Now will somebody please tell my why, at 10:30 or so when I head to bed myself, do I find miss thingy sitting with her ankles crossed, reclining comfortably on my pillows and watching Law and Order of all things, in my bed, with a big ol’ smile on her face? Needless to say I was both shocked and annoyed. I mean, that’s the spot where I lie and watch tv until I’m delirious, and have my late night snack, neither of which I’m interested in sharing.

So this morning I got us back on track. With the help of my gorgeous pit bull son Tyson, I woke up bright and early at 6:00. This gave me ample time to get breakfast ready and wake up sleepin’ booty. Now you would think it would be difficult to get a sleep deprived 4 year old out of bed, but not this one – all I have to do is say the magic words.. “Your breakfast is ready” and she springs out of bed like a kangaroo. I guess the love of food is hereditary.

So tonight, after a long day on little sleep the night before, miss missy was more than happy to go to bed at 8:30, and I was more than happy to escort her there. Now I’ve got to work on this hungry one in my belly. But in the meantime, I’m off to the kitchen to get my favorite good-for-mommy-and-baby-too snack, peanut butter and graham crackers with low fat milk… YUMMM.