Night Time

Most evenings it is just Jake & I.
Our days are usually full of fun mommy & Jake activities, play dates,  along with errands and other necessary daily life stuff.

But evenings we almost always follow the same routine.

Jake gets a bath most nights(a definite in the summer). We head up to his bathroom and do the whole brush teeth, bath, and jammies stuff.  And then it is time for cuddling up in his bed to read books. It has been a fun transition from the rocking chair to his big boy full size bed. Jake always gets to pick the books we read...usually a couple...sometimes more.

As soon as we are finished with books we say our prayers...which are immediately followed by the words "will you stay in my room for a little while." My answer is "yes." I know you might not agree with this.  I know that he is 3 1/2(really a lot closer to 4 then he is 3) and one day he won't ask me to stay in his room. And this is how it transitioned from being rocked each night. I have started reading a prayer from Stormie Omartian's book "The Power of A Praying Parent." While I do this Jake reaches his hand out to me and I know he wants me to rub the back of his hand. And I do...marveling at how much his once tiny hand has grown so big and child like. No more pudgy little baby hand. My heart filling with each little memory of just looking at his hand.

When I have finished the quiet prayer over Jake he asks me to sing songs. It used to be just me singing to him, but now he sings every song right along with me. "You are my sunshine," "Jesus loves you," Jesus loves the little Children," and our made up "Big Boy"(which started as "baby boy") are always requested by Jake.  After several songs he leans up to give me one more kiss & hug, we say "sweet dreams, sleep tight," and Jake's favorite part "don't let the bed bugs bite." And I walk out of the room.

I always walk out of his room feeling so blessed at being able to call this little boy mine. I think our night time routine might be one of my most favorite parts of the day. Jake is usually cooperative and "ugly" mommy doesn't make any appearances. Just sweet tender moments with my little boy.