Bedtime with Heidi
Dec 12th, 2011 by Bethany
Heidi recently learned how to climb out of her crib and tonight she tried it for the first time in a see-if-I-can-push-bedtime-later attempt. Of course, I took her right back to bed and she didn’t want to. As I put her in bed and firmly commanded “Do not get out of bed again,” she asked her favorite question. “Why?” Inspiration hit me and I answered with the standard “Because it’s time to go to sleep” and then added “and because tomorrow is Tuesday.” She looked at me with wide eyes, nodding with understanding and said “Oooohhh.” She quietly put her head down on the pillow. Hey, sometimes absurdity works!
We’re reading a bit of Dicken’s A Christmas Carol together each night this month. Degen and Maggie both love it and almost invariably ask for more when I close the book for the evening (might also have something to do with lights-out after reading time). Heidi, on the other hand, isn’t interested at all and loves to sing and talk loudly to herself while I read. Tonight I was at the part where the Ghost of Christmas present sprinkles his “peculiar incense” on people and houses and food to bless them. Heidi proved that she actually was listening a bit by chiming in with “What’s peculiar mean, Mommy?” I answered “It means ‘special.’” “What’s special mean, Mommy?” she returned. “It means different from everything else.” “Okay, Mommy.” Vocabulary building for nearly-three-year-olds by Charles Dickens.