Bedtime Coping Mechanisms

It's totally easy to put almost-three-year-olds to bed.

Psych.

I've written about this before, but getting our oldest to bed can sometimes be a bit of a challenge. Almost nothing can make me more instantly frustrated than the mind games and back-and-forth ... if you haven't experienced this, I can't describe the frustration triggers accurately enough to do them justice.

Some nights are easier than others for sure (and def. better than it used to be back when I wrote this post), though it does feel like there's a bit of mysticism as to what actually "works" on any given night. Jonathan is known as "the closer" in this process, but I've been trying to up my game recently since he'll be working more.

This is not a solution (this process has made me far too superstitious to declare myself possessing The Answer, no matter what I said before) but here's one thing that's helping my sanity (when my co-parent is home for the evening, obviously): taking walks.

Molly still goes to sleep really early, usually around 6:45, but I bathe them together, so Jules is clean and fed long before she's ready to go to sleep.

It's been so nice, loading her up in the single stroller, turning on Pandora while we bee-bop down the sidewalk, no shoes for her, maybe a book, enjoying the summer evening light and warm weather. I love this one-on-one time together, sometimes we talk, sometimes we just listen to the music while we stroll. It's the perfect, relaxing activity for that hour in between dinner/bath and bedtime.

Sometimes I'll do a little C25K and sometimes not.

So yeah. Nothing original here. Take a walk at night with your kid in the summer. You're welcome.