The nighttime routine

Parker is definitely a creature of habit. I guess all babies are. Everyone tells you to get on a routine and stay there. It doesn't really matter so much exactly what it is. Each baby is different, so each routine can vary. The most important thing is that it is predictable and repeatable.

The routine for us is that Parker gets a bath every night around 8:00 pm. He used to get his bath in a hammock type thing. Then he graduated to a chair that sits in the bathtub. Now he sits in the tub all by himself and I sit on the side with one foot in the water and one out.

After his bath, he gets dried off and dressed in his pj's. We then play for a little bit in his room on the floor. Sometimes he chases the dog around the room. Other times he moves from one toy to the next as if he is on a game show and only has 5 minutes to play with every toy he owns.

Once he starts to rub his eyes and yawn, it's time to sit in his chair and read a book before getting his milk. He always gets a bottle before going to bed. Normally, he lays there still and drinks his milk as the music is playing with the lights turned down low. Usually, before he finishes the bottle, he is fast asleep. Then it is just a matter of gently walking him over to his crib and laying him down without waking him up. Believe it or not, most of the time this goes off without a hitch.

So that is our routine. Parker is usually in bed by 9:00 pm. Below are a series of pictures I took a few weeks ago after Parker had his bath, while he was playing and getting ready to read a book before bedtime.