'Till You See The Light [Turn Green]

For years and years, our kids' bedtime routine has been lovely and the same: jams on, 3 books on the couch, brush teeth, hop in bed, 2 songs, 1 prayer, and then 1 final song. Perhaps it's his age, but while Peter has mostly gone to bed easily since he was an infant, he hasn't always embraced the singing and praying routine before bedtime. By not embracing it, I mean there were times when he would request no songs! don't pray! so we would just say goodnight and leave his room.

He has consistently been our early riser too. If the rest of us would sleep in until 6:50 on a weekday and 7:10 on weekends, he prefers sometime between 6:20-6:45 regardless of the day of the week. To help train him to sleep in a bit later, we bought the Ok to Wake clock for Peter, which turns green at a set time, signaling that it's okay to wake up. It's not really working, but it is cute to see how proud he is when he happens to sleep past 6:45, which is his okay-to-wake time. The problem/not-problem lately is that he is waking up around 6:30, removing his diaper and going to the bathroom. Our alarm is thus, I pooped on the potty!

Thankfully he's feeling the rhythm of songs and a prayer lately, and the other night, I decided to sing a song that was new to him. It goes like this:

I will be your home
I will be your guide
I will be your friend
Always by your side
Sleep now in your room
Quiet of the night
Surrounded by the moon
'Till you see the light

When Renae and Jeremy sing it, it's beautiful - repeated a couple of times through, with a round and nice harmony. When I sang it for Peter the first time the other night, I was not thinking of the green light on his clock, but apparently he was. The first time through, he was staring at me, obviously listening to the words. The second time, right as I sang the final word light, he sang along: turn green. It made me beam and still 24 hours later, made my heart swell. I can't say that it helped him sleep in either morning since, but I guess we'll keep trying.

Even if you don't sleep in, we love you, Peter! And happy 3rd birthday!