Bread and Jam for Frances

So, my alarm goes off signaling story time (yes I've set an alarm), and Juliana immediately says "I don't want to read tonight". Not because she doesn't like the stories, but because she doesn't want to go to bed yet. This is the first time in a very long time that we've had any sort of "routine" about bed. While I was still working, I had a very loose bedtime mentality. Even now, six months into stay-at-home-motherhood, I am learning what works (and doesn't) for my kids. I realized tonight that we need more of a routine than "Story-Goodnight Kiss- Bed".

I have been a mother for over nine years now, and yet there are days when I feel like a novice. Like tonight, I kept thinking that if I had started from day one with a solid bedtime ritual, both kids would now be sweetly dreaming in their own beds, instead of arguing in my bed about who sleeps where.  Nine years of doing what works rather than what's best has put me in a position to re-evaluate everything we do. Luckily, I'm not naive enough to try and change everything at once. I am confident that small changes over time will eventually give me my bed, and my post 9pm sanity, back. Until then, there's wine to take the edge off.

Our book tonight was Bread and Jam for Frances, by Russell Hoban with pictures by Lillian Hoban. Now, in this book I see another one of my parental failures. Frances will only eat bread and jam (quite like my Max with food), and her mother sneakily gets her to try new foods by only giving her bread and jam. Why didn't I think of that with Max??? Because he would have been happy with one thing night after night.

It's a sweet book, but again-- so long! The description of how one of Frances' classmates eats took a whole page and a half. And I was so grateful that Juliana didn't inquire as to what "veal" actually is. More than anything, I am finding that I can learn as much from story time as Juliana does. Like how to be a better parent.