Happy Birthday!

I know each parent says it every single year, but here it goes, "I can't believe how old my child is!" Then they turn around & say the same thing about us; so, s'all good. Birthdays bring a reality check that I really don't want to cash. It marks a passage of time and sometimes, I'm not good with that.

Eliza is 11 today. She is my shining star! I could gush about her forever, which I'm sure everyone is *not* interested in hearing about. Eliza is a thoughtful, patient, caring, loving girl that is my sunshine.

We have a bedtime ritual that originated with Eliza. Yes, many things begin when the oldest child was born. It's just a fact of life. (being first born isn't easy, either) The bedtime ritual. Well, Eliza was about 18 months old and sleeping in a 'real bed', not a crib. She wouldn't stay in the crib; kept crawling out & landing on her head. We figured that wasn't good for her, so she moved into a bed at about 12 months old. The transition went wonderfully. For about a month. Since she was so short, she couldn't open her bedroom door on her own. We'd leave it open a crack. She took that crack and widened it to all the way open & discovered a new world of freedom. Where little girls don't have to go to bed when they were put down, making bedtime more of a nuisance to her nighttime partying ways than anything. However, one night, she wandered into our bedroom right before our bedtime and saw that we were already in bed.

"Sleepy?" she said.
"Yes," we both agreed, "We're very sleepy, we're going to bed."
"Oh, I go bed." and she walked back to her bed for the rest of the night.

Spencer & I looked at each other, could it be as easy as that? The next night, I put her to bed {which was obviously far earlier that we would actually be in bed}. I sang her a song and then added new preamble to the 'don't let the bedbugs bite' farewell. It goes something like this.

Mommy: "I love you, a bushel and a . ."
Eliza: "Peck!"
Mommy: "A bushel and a . . "
Eliza: "Peck!"
Mommy: "And a hug around the . . ."
Eliza: "Neck!"

I hug her then pretend to fall asleep on her neck. She was a bit puzzled and said, "Wake up, Mommy!" I said, "Oh, I'm so tired!" She asked if I was going to bed because I was so tired. Yes, I would be. {just not right now, but she didn't need to know that} She seemed satisfied with that answer, I reminded her to not let the bedbugs bite, bite, bite and I left the room. She stayed in her bed the rest of the evening & through the night. I repeated the altered routine the next night, and by golly, it was magic!

She eventually learned to just stay in bed, but it became part of "The Routine". And I say it the same way for the other chili beans. And she still asks for it every night. They asked about why I pretend to fall asleep on them, and this story comes out. The alteration that is sometimes made is trying to beat me to saying, "I'm so tired!" They say, "Wake up, Mommy!" and try to beat me to the punchline and say, "You're so tired!" I think it was Grant that began that.

So a 'Happy Birthday' to my 11 year old girl that isn't so little anymore! {she's 4'9"!}