Night time routines are especially critical at the Burnsie residence. Ava's bedtime routine involves two or three stories, a selection of teddies and babies to be tucked in and Ava's choice of one parent remaining for snuggles "under the covers". "You wanna come under covers with me Mamma?" How can that offer be refused???
Of course bedtime routine also comes with a plethora of stalling tactics! Ranging from the timeless, "I'm thirsty, I need a drink" to "I need to go to the toilet", the former is now mitigated by strategically placed water bottles. Ava's current favourite is "my tummy hurts, I want some Spider-Man C" (that's actually vitamin C - obviously) and then there was the cryptic "where"s my talice?" It took days and countless meltdowns to figure out her talice was the remote control to the mobile we had over her cot when she was a baby. Ok then.....
I love our routine for my nights under the covers, I hear all about Ava's friends at day care, she tells me about her favourite games and we make up silly stories. Brett loves his nights under the covers because in addition to snuggling up with his little princess in a bed half his size, he often falls asleep before Ava. And as an added bonus he avoids cleaning the kitchen.
Last night's bedtime routine was no exception. It was late, 2 stories were negotiated, the night's stalling tactic involved a sore finger and Dora bandaid to make it all better. Then Daddy was instructed to climb under the covers.
After 30 minutes I thought I better go in to wake up Burnsie. Any longer and ill be stuck cleaning the kitchen on my own and he will need a physio from falling asleep in a 1.5 metre bed.
Before I managed to drag myself away from the heater I heard a wail. Oh dear, had Burnsie just rolled on Ava? No way, not enough room to breath, let alone roll in that bed.
My bandaid my bandaid wailed Ava running out to me. "Ummm i think her bandaide is up her nose", says Burnsie way too calmly. WTF?
Ava had somehow managed to shove her Dora bandaid up her nose!!! I silently and momentarily freaked out while envisioning an xray of Dora's face grinning at me, firmly lodged in the frontal lobe of her brain.
Brett was still half asleep but in action mode. Ava was pretty distressed and wanted to go to the doctors. Holding her close, I was strangely calm and composed. Brett who is always calm and knows what to do in an emergency, asked her to blow her nose a few times. After what felt like an eternity and with a lot of gentle persuasion she blew her nose. Luckily it appeared and I was able to pull it out.
What an ordeal! I just wanted to hold my baby girl all night and tell her it was ok. Bless the little angel, she said she was sorry for putting Dora up her nose. But after 2 minutes she had moved on and wanted to tell me about her new alligator story.
Even though I was totally freaked out, I was very proud of myself for not completely losing my shit. But regardless, I don't ever want to have to go through that again!!!
