Night time Ritual

I never knew that bathtime and books would ever be so important and exciting as they are now. Right now. In this moment. There are so many things I love about being a stay at home mom and spending every moment with my little man, but one of my absolute favorite things is bath time & reading. Each night after Tiuke eats his last bottle of the night, I fill up his bath tub, get out a clean washcloth, grab a new hooded towel and hang it on the towel rack, and then put my little buddy's squirmy body in the water, and he giggles. He splashes, and giggles, and smiles. It is better than I could have ever imagined.

And after his bath is over, and he gets his "swim" time, I pull him out, wrap him in his towel, snuggle him for a while, and then lay him on the bed to lotion up his soft silky body & put him in some warm baby jammies that smell like they've just been taken out of a room full of Dreft. It is the most delicious smell in the world, by the way! He laughs the whole time. Then, like magic, his eyes get sleepy, and as I pick him up he snuggles up to my chest just a little bit closer than usual. It's story book time. And he LOVES to read!

Tonight was a new book that we bought at Witches Night Out. It's called "Frank was a Monster who Wanted to Dance". It is so adorable, and he just loves the pictures. The contrast of Frank's lime green face next to the dark greys and deep purples make it so fun to look at. And it is the perfect book for October. I've made sure to make it a ritual, every night before bed, to read to him. I can see that as he gets older he will love having story time before bed, and I hope that as he grows up and becomes too big to read with me that he remembers his childhood, and that one of his favorite memories is reading books before bed with mom and dad.

There's just something about having him sit on my lap and talk to the pictures while I read him the story that is just so comforting and relaxing. It's like a special bonding moment. Just my son & I, sitting in bed reading books together. I promise to cherish these moments, every day, and never take a single one for granted. I was born for this. And it is so much better than I ever thought it would be.

I even let him lay in bed and read the book himself sometimes!

I can't wait for tomorrow night!