I have fond memories of being "tucked in" by my mom and sister. They'd put the covers tight all around me, from my neck to my feet. I remember just having this huge grin on my face and loving every minute of it. I liked the feeling of being all cozy under the blanket.
Another memory I have is holding my big sister's hand to go to sleep. Bless my sister's heart. She's always had time for me. She was 20 years old when I was born, and through the years has been like a second mom to me. I don't know how many other big sisters would be willing to share a bed with their much littler sister. I remember sometimes she'd kind of sigh when I'd ask her to hold her hand. Finally, somewhere around the time I was 10-12 she'd ask me if I didn't think I was old enough to stop holding her hand.
Eventually I did. But I've never forgotten those two things. So when I became a mom, I wanted to create something that my kids would look back on and say,
"Remember when...".
Thus started our tucking in routine.
I started with saying:
Hug, Kiss, Squeeze, Tickle! As I said the words, I'd do what the word was to the kids.
They were quite happy with this for several years. All of a sudden, they're wanting to add all sorts of things.
Now the basic routine has evolved into a much more complicated routine:
Hug, Kiss, Squeeze, Tickle, "I love you", Raspberry, Nose-to-Nose rub, Cheek-to-Cheek rub, Head boink (don't ask), Back scratch... the list can go on and on and on...
It only takes a minute, and it would be fine if it would stay at that.
But - oh no! That would be too simple!
Each child has certain things they want first or last. And I'm supposed to remember all of that. And then, they want to do the whole routine to me. Or they might decide one night that an "I love you" is supposed to be between each thing.
Oh my goodness. Any other seasoned parent out there know exactly what's going on here?
!!!!!DELAY TACTICS!!!!!
mmmmmhmmmm.
Oh those sweet children of mine. I love 'em.
Even when they sneak into our bed with us at night.
And someday, when I look at this picture, I'll probably wish I would've added 100 other things to the routine.
