new sleep schedule

We have been changing her sleep routine lately.  This is what we do now:

First we tell her it is Toothbrush time.  Most of the time she walks to the bathroom with mommy.  Occasionally, she runs away giggling.  When she runs it is often to daddy, and he snags her and gives her lots of kisses.  If her diaper is wet I change it first. 

Toothbrush Time:  She sits in the wooden high-chair in front of the bathroom sink.  She has a cup that we store her three toothbrushes in.  I remove the toothbrushes and half fill the glass when water and then give it to her.  She usually wants a drink of water.  Then I hand her the toothbrushes and she puts them in the water.  This is usually fascinating for some reason.  Sometimes then she starts brushing her teeth right away.  Other times I have to prompt her.  Occasionally I have to do it for her, which involves screaming and crying.  She gets the option to do it herself, though.  When she brushes her teeth I sing, "1 2 3 We brush our teeth.  1 2 3 Mommy loves you.  (repeat)"  She often changes brushes.  Then when she is done she hands me all the toothbrushes and she gets to pour the water out into the sink.  She likes that.  Then we use a washcloth to clean up the little water spilss from the highchair.  I pick her out of the highchair.  If I made her put a toy down for during toothbrush time, she does NOT let me forget it. 

Next we put a nighttime diaper on.  It is basically an ordinary diaper with one of the extra pads on the inside.  Then she picks out her PJ's.  She loves that.  She hugs the PJ to her and then gives me a hug. 

Next we put the PJ's on.  We do the arms first and I say "Where is your thumb?"  If she isn't thinking of it, it sometimes gets caught in the arm of the PJ's.  Then she puts her hands either on me or the wall and lifts one foot at a time.  Once the feet are on, I zip her up.  Then we hug. 

I turn the lights off in the room and turn the hallway light on.  I put her in the crib on her purple pillow and give her the milk.  She usually drinks a little but not much.  Then I sit on the floor in front of the crib and read her some books.  The rule is that I can't read unless she is lieing down.  Even mid-book, I stop reading.  I read three or maybe four books.  Sometimes during the book reading she hands me her milk.

I have given her a choice for the first book, but she has always chosen "Ferdinand the Bull".  I like that book.  It is somewhat long, but it keeps her interest.  When it talks about Ferdinand smelling the flowers, she makes a smelling noise.  One of the pictures is of the bull's back legs and hoofs.  She labels that as a "Horse".  It looks just like a horse's back legs so I agree with her.  She also like to label the Bumblebee. 

For the second book, I give her a choice.  She has either picked "If You Give a Pig a Party" or "Little Quackers Hide and Seek".  She calls the first book "Pig" and the second book "Mama" or "Mama duck."  With the Pig book she sometimes just listens and she sometimes likes to label the animals in the book.  With the Duck book she often likes to point out the Mama duck.  There are also several pages in a row where the last words are "Who will I find next?"  Tatiana likes to say the "next".  If I am reading four books I ask her if she wants me to read the other book, and she has always said Yes. 

For the last book I always read "Good Morning Farm".  It was one of my books that Mavis and Thilmer gave me when I was 3.  The story is a dog goes around and says Hi to all the animals, and there are photos of baby farm animals.  She really loves it.  The pages are very delicate and she has accidentally torn a couple of pages while turning them. 

Then I stand up and mostly close the door.  I stand in front of the crib singing her a lullaby and occasionally stroking her back.  Sometimes she says "No no no" because she knows that after the lullaby I will be leaving.  Then as I leave, I tell her that she should rest and that later Daddy will come in to say good night. 

Then I leave and close the door. 

For right now, she gets upset at this point. 

When Scotland goes in, he talks to her and sings to her and calms down.  Occasionally about a half hour after settling down she has screamed because her diaper is wet.  She gets a quick diaper change, and then back to bed.