Violet's Good-Night

I just finished putting Violet to bed, and thought for posterity's sake I should post some of the precious-est things she does during BedTime. When we tell her it's time for Sleepy Night-Night, she puts on this brilliant smile and says, hopefully, "Good MORning!" We tell her, no, it's GoodNIGHT time. Sometimes we have to wrestle with having a cheerful heart on the way upstairs, but in general, she goes patiently, though with a bit of desperation to her that is heartbreaking to watch. :P She'll try to distract us by repeating a game or song that we were playing/singing earlier to "remind" us of what a great time we were having, and wouldn't it be just GRAND to stay awake instead of going to Dreaded Night-Night??!! PLEASE???

Once the teeth are brushed and the jammies are on, she jumps resignedly and sleepily into her bed (toddler bed, short enough for her to "do it herself, " a phenomenon so very important to her these days!) and asks for her Songs. Number One is usually, "Apples and Grapes." "Mommy sing it de Apples and Grapes?" This is the lullaby called, "All the Pretty Little Horses", which includes the phrase, ".....dapples and greys, pintos and bays, coach and six white horses." To her, this sounds like, "Apples and Grapes, pintos and grapes." In the second verse I sing, "Way down yonder..." and she echoes, with a chuckle, "Waydon Yonner, " because this is somehow amusing to her--funny words, I guess, to a toddler...    Then, "...in the meadow" and she echoes me again with, "....enna meddow" and another chuckle. I don't know why this strikes her as funny, but she waits through the whole first verse in anticipation of "Way down yonder in the meadow" and then chimes in with such amusement.......it's hard to keep a straight face when I know she's about to start!

Next comes the song Grammy wrote for her, called, "Shy Little Violet." 

Shy little Violet

sitting on her parapet

watching the world go by

Armies will assail you

but your King will never fail you

as you're watching and you're warring way up high.

This one she has entitled, "Shy Parapet" and she asks for it every night. When she was very small, before she was saying much of anything, she would wait until the very end, and then whisper, "Hiii." as I sang the last word. It was one of her first words.

Another one we sing is, "Now I Lay Me Down" and this one she can actually sing from beginning to end---though not on command. Nothing unusually charming about this one except the way she asks for it is usually inclusive of the entire first phrase of the song. She pops her head up and unplugs the binky and says, "NowIYayMeDonToSeepIPrayDeeYord..." and we usually stop her mid-recitation by singing it so she can take a breath. :P

Sometimes halfway through a song, she'll say, "All done, Daddy sing it? All done Daddy?" and command him to cease singing it while, "Mommy sing it?" alone. She's so polite and articulate in the way she asks that it's hard not to just melt into a puddle and just give her her serenade to her exact specifications. :D We're such PushOvers!

These bedtime sessions are precious beyond words.....I just---mmm. I love my little girl! 

Yes, and we miss her when she sleeps. :D