Wednesday, September 24, 2008

PM Routine

Owen’s PM Routine

We have a few weeks of school under our belts and I feel it is time to document our nightly routine. Isabelle either is cutting teeth or has a cold coming on and went to bed very early tonight, so she is not featured here...watch for another post of her routine in the coming weeks.

After dinner he does a few pages of homework. This is brand new this year and he is quite excited about the homework at this point. There are pages he prefers to do, matching, sequencing and sudoku rate pretty high, printing rates pretty low...but he soldiers on...dutifully doing his printing homework.
Then we head outdoors for some play time with the neighbourhood kids. We are lucky to live in an area where there are so many kids and lots of friends for Owen and Isabelle. Last night the kids played road hockey, rode bikes and scooters, Isabelle pushed around her stroller for a while and then had a ride in it.

Next is the lengthy bedtime routine. We have discovered over the years, that Owen needs time to wind down from the day, time to talk about his favourite moments, time to talk about any struggles, time to check the calendar and discover what is happening tomorrow:
A peek out the window to find the perfect star to wish on. I love to listen to his sweet little voice saying the poem and can only wonder what he wishes about every night.
“Star light, star bright. First star I see tonight. I wish I may, I wish I might; have this wish I wish tonight.” Eyes closed and face scrunched while he concentrates on his wish.
A bowl of porridge over 2 stories. Generally I read one and then he reads one. He picked 2 tonight that were more geared to an adult reading, but he did his best and read most of the SpongeBob book, pointed to the words he did not know and I read those. So amazed with his reading right now.


Into the bathroom for a final pee and brush teeth.

Back to bed to choose a CD to listen to while he falls asleep. Lately the favourite has been: Owen’s Christmas CD. This is a lovely compilation made by my friend Leslie of all of Owen's favourite Christmas songs. It is so sonderful to listen to I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas in September. And it is not playing quietly in the background…oh no…it must be turned up quite loud…the tunes are rocking. Often in the middle of the night, if he wakes up, he will press play and we get serenaded at 2am by The Jackson 5 singing Santa Clause is Coming to Town.
Tucked into the Spidey Bed…"like a mermaid" please mama…notice the tight tuck all the way down his legs.
A quick wrestle, hug and kiss from dad when he gets in from work. I love how tightly he is hanging onto daddy's neck...his fingers gripping tightly...they have such a great bond...I see such fierce love in this photo.
Then after tossing and turning for twenty minutes or so, he drifts off to sleep with the lights on and the music blasting…so peaceful…so Owen.
Sweet Dreams my AngelBoy…mama loves you!

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