Every night at the Fullers we embark on a journey through Aislynn's bedtime routine. It begins with a story and the extremely important choosing of a buddy.
Once upon a time when we were idiots, Andy and I lined up about 15 tiny stuffed animals on a long rainbow colored worm in Aislynn's bed as we embarked on "The Routine."
As time went on, the line up became increasingly large and insane. The "little buddies" soon required a specific order, a certain type of positioning, chaos erupted if a "buddy" fell off the worm or heaven forbid-fell on the floor!
Ever night I would think, this is insane! Why have we become slaves to this tiny little girl, the Little Einsteins, the entire Mickey Mouse Club House, Magenta, Valentine Bear, Lovey Puppy, as well as some stragglers? I couldn't take it any longer. Goofy refused to sit up straight. I never liked Goofy. I will not be Goofy's b**** any longer!
Then there was puke-LOTS of it.
One day in the town of Bloomington, Aislynn became the sickest I have ever seen her in her almost 4 years of life. She threw up intensely on 14 of the 15 buddies. It was a sad day at Mickey's Club House, particularly for Mickey. Genius finally struck when I realized that my child did not need to sleep with 15 tiny stuffed animals in a row on a large worm. Cleaning up 14 casualties from the puking incident really clarified my resolution.
So we implemented a "one buddy a night" rule when Aislynn recovered from an eternity of the flu variety show. She would be allowed to choose one special sleepover"buddy" a night. No entourage, no clubs, or gangs permitted-one lone character as a sleeping companion. I thought she would protest, I thought for sure she would fight for the WHOLE Club House. No fight, little protest, I think the causalities of the flu disturbed everyone including Aislynn.
I still shudder thinking about the implications of that flu.
Rainbow worm, may you rest in peace.
6 comments:
been there, done that! well, minus the flu part. Claire still has an entourage of animals that she must have on her bed. it's changed over the years but teddy is still there along with blankie 1,2 and 3 (which normally reside at the end of the bed along with teddy) and the cat who died has a twin in the form of a stuffed toy, flower. This may not seem like a lot, but when you are traveling and they all must come along, they travel in their own bag because the entourage is just that large. yep, she is 10 and attached to these sleeping rituals. we have a little saying we say each night too... never forget the routine! i will remind her of this in a wedding toast one day! ;-)
This made me laugh so hard that I cried. I even read it aloud to my husband! Ironically, we were having a discussion this very night about how our 3-year-old needs an entire armada of accessories to go to bed. In our case, they're mostly of the non-stuffed animal genre, which is even worse: He rolls over at 2 AM and suddenly, the sounds of a train, airplane, Elmo book, and alphabet caterpillar are echoing throughout the upstairs. Sadly, I don't think a flu incident would deter him; the kid's as stubborn as they come :)
Thanks for coming by my blog! It's lovely to meet you!
yes.
yes. yes.
we create the little monsters that they are!!! owen has about 10 full sized animals in his bed each night. I wonder if that is why he wakes up every night.
way to be strong!!!
Hilarious. I stopped by on Lenae's advice, and was not disappointed :) My daughter gets to pick one toy a night, but over the course of days and weeks, she usually finagles a few more on the basis of 'but this one needs her mommy, and the mommy needs her other baby, and her friend wants to have a sleepover, and...' Meanwhile, I'm like, yes princess, just go to SLEEP already. In the nicest possible way, of course ;D
That's hilarious! I know all about the puke on the toy problem! I wish I didn't, but I do!
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