No Mama Is An Island (But Daddy Might Be)

I keep forgetting to tell you guys...there's an awesome giveaway in progress over at my friend Melissa's blog.  It's for a very cool home internet security program, something we could probably all use.  But it ends today!  So head over to Peanut Butter in my Hair to read about the great product and company, and to enter to WIN!



Bedtime is sacred at our house.  (And I mean for more than my crazy tendency to cling tightly to early bedtimes.)

It happens the same way, night after night, and it works like this:

We wrangle two wound-tight girls into and out of the bathtub, and wrap them into fluffy towels. (Dark blue for Mia, yellow for Lauren -- this is non-negotiable.)  They waddle down the hallway to our bedroom, where they climb up to the bed, and wipe their wet little selves all over the quilt in an attempt at one last wrestling match.  Mia's newest addition to the post-bath lineup includes a snuggle with daddy while mama prods them to move and get your jammies on because it's getting late!  (All the while, it's maybe 7:04pm, but mama sees the end in sight and is tenacious in her early bedtime intentions.)

There may be a timeout or two peppered among the pajama and teethbrushing activities, because Mia is bound and determined to drag the process out as long as possible.  She's quite the wiley 4-year-old.  Both girls then scale the drawers to the bathroom countertop, and jockey for the right to dance before the mirror.  They are denied, and get their teeth polished with magical jewel-detecting toothbrushes.  And then: the pie`ce de re`sistance -- Story Time. 

Mia begs for mama, Lauren begs for mama, and we do a storytime shuffle that includes promises of daddy reading stories for the girl who doesn't get to have her mama.  He's not inferior in any way but for some reason, the girls only want me, all the time.  So one girl deigns to accept a story and lullaby from him, while the other girl sits on my lap and soaks up the mama-love.  We each put our respective girls to bed, and high-tail it to the couch to claim our reward: silence and stillness.

But, something's changed recently.  On an almost nightly basis, the girls...the girls...they...

They now want their dad instead of me. 

They beg for daddy.  They cry for him.  It's just not right, I tell you!  I don't expect it to last forever, because their tastes can change with the wind.  Soon, I think, I'll be in favor again, but for now?  It's been killing me slowly. 

Lauren sobs if Justin isn't able to snuggle her to sleep, and when Lauren wants him, Mia wants him too.  I'm left sad and lonely on the couch, mourning my loss while a few precious memories of baby-scented-hair linger in my mind.  I'm almost able to feel a tiny dimpled hand brushing across my own as we rock in the chair.  I can hear Justin closing the door to Mia's room and dashing to the other door, where a sweet voice is calling him to 'tnuggle in da wockin' chaiw.'  I can feel the warmth of a small head nestled in my neck, and I want to cry with the loss of my nightly routine....

And then the commercial break is over on tv, and I get to watch almost an entire episode of The Bachelorette while Justin does the heavy lifting. 

Not bad a'tall.