This post is a part of Indi Happy Hours activity sponsored by Pampers
The best time we spend together is while we go to sleep. It is certainly not hard to put him to sleep. Babies as such can fall asleep in no time; so does my son. Our bedtime rituals keep changing and keep adding over the months, based on what amuses him. As a new-born, he used to be awake for a little time only in the middle of his all-day long slumber. In a few months, he used to sleep with every feed; again quite often. Now he is a toddler and it’s fun! As a matter of fact, our day naps are more delightful.
We hit bed when there’s still time before he feels sleepy. And I need to spot that hour of the day well before, less he will begin to act cranky once his eyelids begin to feel heavy. The mirror attached to our cot just over our heads gives us one of the best entertainments. As an infant, he couldn’t quite make out who the other ‘figure’ in the mirror was. He used to bend low, move his head from side to side and shake his hands again and again to understand how the other ‘entity’ made exactly the same movements. Now, he’s a little grown up. He has recognized that it is his reflection though he cannot quite catch on how it’s shown on the other side whereas he has remained at just one place.
Well, I said it is a great entertainment because we lie down side by side in front of the mirror and make funny faces that kicks us up with lots of laughs. He imitates my facial expressions exactly the same way I do; I open my mouth wide, he opens too. I stretch my lips to showcase all my teeth; he does too and wonders why mine are more in number than his. Then I clap, he claps. We invent and add such meaningless moves everyday. In between, he would go near the mirror and touch the reflections to make sure they are not real 😆 On one side, this is a fun activity. And on the other, it also kindles his thought process about the difference between the real and the unreal. If you’ve noticed toddlers, even a few minutes of such deep thinking, puts them into sound sleep. Not because their brains get tired; but actually they begin to continue their introspection in their sleep.
Several such fun plays have come and faded in the last few months. The recent big hit on the bed is the elephant ride.
The elephant walks like this and that
So fat and so tall
What a big nose
ohunnnnnn…….
This is one of his favourite rhymes as he rejoices imitating the trumpet sound in the last line. To bring it alive, I act the elephant. He becomes super excited to hop on my back as I sing the first three lines of the rhymes and pause for him to blow the elephant’s trumpet while I move round and round on the bed. By the time we are done with three rounds, he’s almost sleeping and the trumpet slowly turns a hiss. Elephant’s rock and roll does that job!
And we go to sleep….