The things a mom will do for her child.

Since Mallory has been sleeping in her own bed (almost three weeks now, squeeee!), I do the same bedtime routine & make sure it stays very consistent every night. 

Backing up almost two weeks ago, I went to a clothing party at my dad's cousin's house (Patti).  She has three small granddaughters, so is very familiar with little girls Mallory's age.  It was Mallory's bedtime & getting late & she had gotten a little whiny.  I was holding Mallory, getting ready to leave & Patti comes up & starts lightly stroking Mallory's hand.  She immediately silenced her whining, put her head on my shoulder & was put at complete ease.  Patti said "Yea, all my babies love this too."  I made a mental note of that & decided that I would be trying that at home!

Back to our bedtime routine now - I stay with Mallory until she falls asleep.  I know a lot of parents who put their children down awake & while I can definitely understand the need or want to do that, right now I don't mind staying with her & have the time to do it.  I sit on the floor beside her toddler bed & let me note that toddler beds are not made for the comfort of a parent to get comfortable on or beside.  You all know of her hair obsession that I have talked about many, many times.  Therefore, I am sitting on the floor beside the very low bed with my head down where she can play with my hair.  Yes, this is extremely uncomfortable & has caused me a considerable amount of back pain the past few weeks.

Add to that, now Mallory's love for a little massage every night.  Since I realized how much the rubbing of her hand relaxed her that Patti did, I know rub her every night as she drifts off to sleep.  She lets me know exactly where she wants to be massaged, "rub my leg mama" or, "rub my back mama."  "Yes ma'am, is there anything else you would like??", I ask.  "My cup."  She'll take a sip of water & go back to playing with my hair & having her little massage.

It's good to be Princess Mallory.