GoodNites “Special Bedtime Moments” Contest And Giveaway

“My son is 15 months old and as long as I can remember I’ve always hummed “You Are My Sunshine” as I’m rocking him to sleep. Now as I’m putting his jammies on he has started to hum it as well because he knows what’s coming next! I love it.”

samanthajocampen at gmail dot com

For 2 years now I have been telling my son the story of when a pig fell in the mud. The story always starts the same way…I say, “There was a little pig and his name was…”. And my son fills in his name, “Luke”. Then we both snort a little bit.
From there, the adventure begins! My son always picks where the pig will be; in a park, at the beach, etc. I let him help out with the story line. And along the journey, cartoon and story book characters show up. I let him decide which ones. I can actually see my son envisioning them as the story is being told! And even though every story is different, they always end with the pig falling in mud! Then we both sing…”He was stuck in the mud, stuck in the mud…” I really don’t remember how the bedtime ritual started but don’t look forward to it ending when he is too big to hear it!

Bed Time Antics

Bedtime antics are very comical in my house. I’ve never been that type of mom who could get her kids to sleep, successfully in their own beds! Never! From day one with my 1st born, I just couldn’t be the Sleep Nazi! Just visualize this. My husband is on his side, my son beside him, but not too close because he hates to sleep by my husband and falls asleep crying most nights because the baby has ‘stolen’ his spot (very sweet). The baby is beside me, then me on my side. My daughter lies horizontal at my feet, but not touching my husband, because he will practically throw her on top of me if she touches him. Pillows and blankets everywhere – my daughter has no less than 4 special blankies and 2 pillows
It is hilarious to watch her try to carry all her Stuff around! She cracks me up and must sleep with all of them. You can’t find her in the sea of pillows and blankets! My son has a small pillow he sleeps with under his shirt (tummy aches all the time) and thousands of stuffies, all dogs or puppies. The baby has a blanket that she won’t sleep without now. ALL THIS IN ONE {CAL KING} BED!! I have the smallest space ever to sleep in. The baby sleeps on my pillow with me and if I try to move her over to share the middle pillow with my son, invariably she wakes up and starts to scream. But if she doesn’t wake, she will move and squirm about until she is back on my pillow with her head touching mine. And secretly, I do love this! Just precious! And exhausting!!! What am I going to do when my kids are older – I will be so lonely in bed!!!

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I help my son go to sleep by reading him a story that has happy things in it so he will dwell on that as he sleeps.I’m not sure how it started over 6 months ago, but he wants me to chase all of the nightmares away before he goes to sleep every night. So every night I tell all of the nightmares that there might be to go away.

We’ve made bedtime a family affair. Most nights everybody climbs into my daughters bed for a book, tv show, etc, and we spend time together.

Stumbled

http://www.socialmedian.com/story/5287488/goodnites-special-bedtime-moments-contest-and-giveaway-table-for-five

“Rock-a-Bye Baby”
After giving my three year old daughter her bath, brush her hair and teeth, and pray with her, I have a special way of getting her into the bed. I do this by rocking her in my arms like a baby while singing “Rock-a-Bye Baby”. When I sing it to her, I look closely at her face and give her lots of kisses, and she tries to pretend she is asleep. I include actions while I sing to her. When I sing, “When the wind blows”, I’ll blow in her hair. When I sing, “Down will come baby, cradle and all”, I’ll playfully (but carefully) drop her into her bed. She just loves it! Sometimes I’ll do it more than once. It is such a special moment we share together. I look forward to it every night. Even though she is three years old, she is still my baby!

I also posted a link to it on my facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/profile.php?id=728063977&ref=name

To get my son to bed, we bring him into the “big bed”, mine and my husband’s. We snuggle with him in the middle, and he gets some attention from both of us, which he loves. We attached his old mobile to the headboard, and it plays stars across the ceiling as we lay there and snuggle. When he finally starts to nod off, it’s bedtime!

Oh how I treasure our night time routines. I have been blessed to have my three year old grnadaughter living with us so these moments are very precious. We always start with bath time and then she just must have her lotion! Then we find her jammies , while I brush her hair her Daddy seranades her with his on acoustical rendition of Ashes Ashes, then she dives into her bed with her dollies and her Dora Dolls, amnst several colorful pillows just her size. ( We made them special in bright primary colors as she has Nystagmus and needs help seeing things, and then we read aloud some of her favorite books, then it is kissy kissy time and she is off to slumberland.

I still remember my parents, especially my dad, reading stories to us when we were kids. It was something my siblings and I looked forward to each night and something we will always cherish. I always wanted my dad to read “Inside Outside Upside Down,” and no matter how many times I asked him, he would always read it to me.

I started reading to my kids before they were even born. I would sit in my glider rocker and read to my tummy atleast once a day throughout both my pregnancies. Many people thought I was crazy while others thought it was wonderful.

Both of my children love to read and to be read to. My husband and I both think that reading is so important to our children and we encourage it on a daily basis. We read with our children every single day and now our son reads to us each day as well!

Chandler is 8 years old and will be in 3rd grade, he’s reading at the 5th grade level. Stephy is 5 1/2 years old and she’s reading the beginner books and is so excited that she can finally read.

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I am 31-years-old and I still say my prayers. Now I lay me, down to sleep I pray the Lord, my soul to keep. Guide me safely, through the night, and wake me with, the morning light. Amen.” (My parents took out the dying part.) This prayer gives me comfort and I can’t wait to share it if we are blessed with a child someday.

I posted the link (with the cool giveaway graphic) on my Facebook page. You can check it out at:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/profile.php?id=669259961&ref=name

“After our girls put on their pajamas and have a bedtime snack, we have what we call ‘books and snuggle’ time. They can sit either alone or with us and read quietly, or just have some snuggle time with my hubby or I. We also read a book or two out loud to our youngest – or sometimes one of her sisters will read to her. It’s nice to have that special family time every night.”

Billy’s Bedtime 6/20/09

We keep it very simple. Billy is 4 and has a hard time falling asleep so we have a special nightlight with Shrek that he loves to have on. He loves stories especially Doctor Seuss books. Currently, it’s Green Eggs and Ham he asks for over and over. Must have the door cracked properly and we also hold his stuffed bear so the bear can listen to the story too. I have found that if you take time and patience with bedtime you have a child that will sleep through the night.

One of our favorite nightly routines is to put my son’s magnetic calendar on the bed and look at the pictures of what we have planned for the rest of the week. He loves to arrange the pieces for the park, visiting the museum, going to the library every week. We also sing a song about the 7 days of the week that he learned in preschool. I think he falls asleep dreaming about the fun things he will be doing!

Ljalston953 at aim dot com

very informative post.

I always let the kids pick their favorite book for me to read to them. I would alter my voice for each carachter in the story and make it goofy. They loved it and thought it was so funny.

Ever since he could talk, our little boy has asked people to “Do [his] hair” when he is ready for bed. Before that he’d grab your hand and rub it against his head to signal that he’d like his hair fluffed about until he falls asleep. I dread the day when he stops asking and I no longer have an excuse to watch the little angel fall asleep.

I have a simple routine for my one-year-old. After she has her bath and I put on her pajamas, I read her a book (or two). Goodnight Moon is a favorite, also Pajama Time by Sandra Boynton. I sing her some lullabies, and if I’m lucky, she drifts off to sleep.

As a young mom, the song that I stuck upon to sing as a lullaby to my new son was for some reason “Baby Mine” (from Dumbo). Every night, I would tuck my little boy in and sing or hum those sweet words along with saying our prayers. That same son’s 11th birthday is fast approaching. Now, nearly 11 years later, I still tuck him in at night with some shared prayers and that same song hummed or sung (sometimes under my breath) and accompanied by much embarrassment (on his part) and eye rolling. Oh, the joys of a pre-teen child.. but no matter how old he gets, he will always remain my “Baby Mine!”

silly bedtime stories of course

I read one Go Diego Go book to mike every night and we hum old macdonald together

When my son was afraid of monsters in the dark, I armed him! I got a small spray bottle, a small flashlight and a whistle. I put water, a couple of drops of food color and a little lavender oil in the spray bottle. Later that evening with great ceremony I gave him his monster fighting weapons. I told him to first shine the light and if that didn’t work, spray two sprays of monster repellent in the air, if he was still scared to blow the whistle and Mom or Dad would come running to fight the monster. Every night we’d spray a little monster repellent and make sure he had his weapons near. We only had to fight a couple of monsters and my son wasn’t afraid anymore.

We’ve never had ‘traditional’ nighttime routines at our house. We all gather in the living room at bed time and my son gets to pick a show or movie. He lays his head on my lap and is usually asleep within 10-20 minutes. It’s certainly not the norm, but it works for us.

I always read to my son before bed and then I sing him a song called “Bushel and a Peck”. It’s a song my gramma used to sing to me and my son and I both get a big smile on our faces when I sing it.He can’t speak but he always hums the last verse with me.

We read a different story every night, and we get new ones at the library once a week.

Thanks!

My 07/06/09 entry please

ktgonyea at gmail.com

My bedtime moment involves how I prepare myself to get relaxed enough to get into bed and go to sleep. I like to play music, … songs that are soft and comforting to the mind and senses. I especially like to put on – Scarborough Fair by Simon and Garfunkel or Tuesday Afternoon by the Moody Blues.

My children loved having me read bedtime stories to them. Their favorite was I Love You Forever by Robert Munsch. It was a truly special moment when they learned to read and read it to me for the first time.

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My children love it when I read to them at bedtime. Then we quietly talk about the events of the day and say our prayers.