Cairo's bedtime routine

All kids are different. You have heard it a million times and even with your own kids you have seen first hand how two kids, from the same parents, really can be so different. Even so, I wanted to share a few things that we always do at night to help Cairo have the longest sleep possible (about 12-13 hours). Maybe one thing could help your little one fall asleep faster or sleep longer. 

First off, we do a pretty "standard" bed time routine. I take him potty, brush his teeth, he takes a turn brushing his teeth and we get our pyjamas on and a diaper (he still wears them at night) and we head to bed. He has a sound machine in his room (his room is right off of our kitchen/living room) and I bring my cell phone light in to read a story. I always read one book before bed, maybe two - there are a few new ones we have been loving from Chronicle Books (I'll tell you why we love them below!) - and we always pray together and I sing one song. That's it. We hardly ever go off routine. It's always the same and I think that's a big reason why he usually is great at going to sleep. 
One thing we try and never do is go into his room after he has gone to bed. He may cry for 10 seconds or 10 minutes when we are leaving his room because who wouldn't want to sleep right next to mom and dad?! I find that anytime I go back or "read him one more book" or "sing him one more song" it actually makes it tougher for him to go to sleep. And like any parent, you know the type of cry when something is actually wrong and of course we go in at those moments. But any other cry/whine/"mama" request is denied and that really helps him know that it is time for him to go to sleep. 

Cairo also has a pretty dark room and will often wake up in the morning and play by himself in his room for a few minutes (he can't open the door just yet!). I often can find him reading books when he wakes up so we actually moved all of our kids books into his room so that he had lots to pick from. We have been reading Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site most nights so I was so excited to show him Mighty, Mighty Construction Site - it's a good-er.

The day Chelsea and I showed our kids this animal book also was the day that I was ready to sign Jake up to babysit Cairo. Jake took the book and flipped through all the pages with Cairo, reading the book and telling him about every single animal. It was a heart-warming moment and even writing it down reminds me of what a great big cousin Jake is to both Cairo and Ezri. 

There really are so many great books out there but I love reading books that have a great story to them, especially at night with Cairo and this one called Love, Mama has such a cute story.

So whatever your bed time routine is, hopefully you have a minute or two to read to your kids before bed or maybe they are at the age where they can read on their own. Either way, I know getting a few new books is always a favourite day in my house and I love putting them to good use during our bed time routine.