Let sleeping babies lie

Had to share this one as it made me laugh until my cheeks ached.

Plate goes to bed around 8 every night - it's a great ritual for us, even though the first part can be a bit trying.
It starts with the Changing of the Nappy which can sometimes be fraught because, well, who likes having their nappy changed? Then it's the Putting on of the Sleepsuit where we count off the buttons - "One button, ha ha ha ha ha! Two buttons, ha ha ha ha ha!" etc. Then she climbs up the stairs to the bedroom1 with the mummy daddy escort. Once there, the night lights go on, the curtains are drawn, then it's the Throwing of the Baby - basically daddy chucks her onto our bed a few times - which gets lots of giggles. After that, it's the Zipping in of the Sleep Sack (with much Yawning and Rubbing of Eyes) then it's Storytime! Her favourite part I think. Daddy reads, mummy does special effects.Sometimes she gets three books if she's not tired enough. After the story, it's the Goodnight Game: kisses from both of us, group hug, bye bye Daddy and finally, milk from mummy. After about 10 minutes, I lay her in her cot (awake), bid her goodnight and leave her to fall asleep herself. The rest of the night is ours, but we keep an ear open and go up occasionally to make sure she's still breathing.

The night in question we'd heard a thump from upstairs, so FBB went up to investigate. Usually it only takes him a few seconds but this time he stayed up there for about 5 minutes, but there was no crying or other noises. I started to get a bit antsy and was about to go up there when he came down.

Turns out that just as he was bending over her cot, her head shot up! Startled, he leapt down ninja-style to hide behind the headboard - hoping he hadn't just woken her up. He gave her a few seconds, then slowly peeked around - right into her face! Which clearly said  I can SEE you!  She was definitely awake and wondering what game daddy was playing. She sat up and stared at him quite solemnly. So he picked her up and managed to rock her to sleep again, which was lucky.

That was the highlight of my day - my cheeks still ache from the memory!

Something else that made me chuckle today: she spent the good part of an hour playing with a pen whilst sitting on my belly as I lay on the sofa. The funny part? She kept putting the cap of the pen, then the pen itself, into my mouth, then sitting back and clapping her hands in delight, like she'd just created a work of art and was chuffed! Then she'd do it all again! Crazy little thing. But so lovable.

1. Which we will miss since one bed homes are unlikely to be over two floors. She also climbs down herself but she gets distracted2 by the stuff we've stashed on them - bits of car, clothes, gloves, shoes, books, etc. It's a miracle we can actually use the stairs without tripping over something. 

2. But not when going up. It's very Plate.