Bedtime stories

Our night time routine:

Bubble Bath
Brush Teeth
Dress in her Kerjamas (yes, KERjamas)
Comb Hair (thank goodness for de-tangling spray)

Then it's off to bed!

Oh, but wait! There's more.

First I have to read THREE BOOKS ("Cause I'm Three Years Old!" she says). Her current rotation is Blue Puts on a Play, Olivia, and the Great Cake.


After the books, but before the songs I have to tell her a story about "Baby Lauren" or "Princess Lauren" or "Puppy Lauren." It's basically a roundup of her day that always begins "Once upon a time, Baby/Princess/Puppy Lauren woke up in her room/castle/bed" ...and ends with "...then she took a bath, brushed her teeth, read three books, and now it's time to go to sleep...The end."

Then comes the songs. Unlike the books which change rotation every few days, our bedtime songlist is NOT FLEXIBLE. Believe me, I've tried.

First it's "Happy Heart" from the Veggie Tales Madame Blueberry episode.

The next song is Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. This is how it goes down every night:

Me: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star....
Lauren, interrupting: Mommy...why does Madame Blueberry buy too much stuff?

Me: Because she thinks buying stuff will make her happy...but that's not true.You don't need to buy stuff to be happy.

Lauren: Yeah. And then her house broke.

That happens word.for.word. Every. Single. Night.

After Twinkle Twinkle Little Star it's Somewhere Over the Rainbow. I sing the Judy Garland version but every now and then (upon request) I'll play the Iz Kamakawiwo'ole version on the Ipad. If the rainbow song hasn't done it's trick I break out my no-fail-lullabye, the one Lauren calls the "Angel song." It's Billy Joel's "Lullabye," a sentimental favorite.

If she's not asleep by the end of that one I'm in trouble.

Good night, Sweet Dreams my baby boo.