If You Tell Chloe It's Bedtime...

Recently, when Chloe's bedtime has approached, I've been reminded of the children's book, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie. Here is a typical 8pm scenario in the Andersen household.





If you tell Chloe it's bedtime,
She's going to ask for one last drink of juice.
When you give her one last drink of juice,
She'll probably spot the leftover Halloween candy on the counter (which Mom clearly forgot to hide).
Once Mom has given in and let her have a piece of candy,
She'll ask for her mouth to be wiped clean.
Then, when she sees the washcloth that's just wiped her mouth, she'll suddenly decide she needs a bath!
On her way to the bathroom, she'll notice the pair of socks laying on the floor that she took off earlier that day.
So she'll probably ask Mom to help her put them on.
Then once she puts her socks on, she'll want to go find her shoes.
She'll find all of her shoes lined up in the closet, and want to try each pair on!
She might even get carried away and want to try on Mom's shoes too.
And she may even end up trying Dad's shoes on as well!
When she's done, she'll probably feel so exhausted that she'll ask to go to bed (can I hear a sigh of relief from Mom?).
Mom will have to make sure she has both of her blankets (the one Grandma Jill made and the one Shannon made), as well as her hippo, doggie, bear, and baby (if any of these are forgotten, Mom is sure to hear about it).
She'll crawl into her crib, make herself comfortable, and confirm everything she normally sleeps with is indeed there.
She'll then probably ask you to read her some books.
So you'll read to her from her favorite ABC's book and when you get to the end, she'll want you to sing the ABC song to her.
When you start singing the ABC song to her, she'll get so excited she'll want you to sing it again. And again. And again.
She'll even try and sing it with you, and incorporate the numbers she knows into the song.
When the song has been sung 16 or so times, she'll want to move on to another book - this time, Jesus Wants Me For a Sunbeam.
When she sees a picture of the moon on the third page, she'll suddenly realize she hasn't said goodnight to the moon yet!
Which means she'll need to get back out of her crib, and into Mom's arms so they can go outside.
She and Mom will go outside, find the moon, blow kisses and say "Night night".
When they come back into the house, they'll pass the kitchen, which will remind her she could really use a snack!
So... after examining the pantry, she'll ask for some pretzels.
And chances are if she asks for some pretzels, she's going to want some juice to wash it down!

Not that I let her get away with this, but truly, if I did, this is what every night would be like!