My favorite time of day

Joanna asked a question today that I was excited to respond to but instead of a long comment I decided to write about it here. I was excited to respond because she asked about my favorite time of day! Well, one of them because really I have two: when the Pepper wakes up and when the Pepper goes to bed.

Morning time is very special. I get up around 6am and start work right away (since I work East Coast hours). My little one usually wakes up sometime between 7am and 7:30am so I try to not schedule any work calls during this time. Once I hear that she's up I go and greet her. I pick her up and take her to daddy in bed and when my schedule allows we snuggle in bed for 10 minutes or so before starting the day. I love this snuggle time. During the day the Pepper is always on the go wanting to play or run or do something. But in bed in the morning she's happy to lie there and be close to us. We may find belly buttons or name parts of the face, but most of the time is spent just holding each other. Such a nice quiet time of day.

Bedtime is less quiet but equally enjoyable. After dinner our bedtime routine starts. Every other day this includes a bath but whether it's a bath night or not before getting her in her pj's we always do some quality naked time. The Pepper seems to love this time and it's become her time to run around and blow off energy which I think works to our advantage. She'll usually put on some sort of show for us by singing or dancing. Once she's burnt out a little bit we'll give her her toothbrush so she can brush her teeth (something she seems to love to do). Once we've been able to convince her to give up her toothbrush we put her pj's on and then do story time. We read about 3 books together as a family on the couch. The first two are more fun books but after we've read those we'll put her socks on and give her a pacifier, hopefully indicating it's time to start winding down. We read the 3rd and last book, which is usually about going to sleep, and then we'll say our goodnights. Daddy turns off the lights and we go to our large living room windows and we'll close each one saying goodnight to somebody or something ( "good night courtyard", "good night neighbors", etc). Daddy gives her a good night kiss and then I take her to her crib. I'll put her down in her crib, sing her a lullaby, maybe rub her back a little but most of the time I stand there and am just present for her while she falls asleep. I sometimes do some audible and slow yoga breathing which seems to help her if she's feeling particularly restless, but luckily most nights she grabs her stuffed animals and soothes herself to bed.

I think I love these times of day because the focus is on being together as a family. There isn't much distraction, there aren't things competing with our time, it's when we can enjoy each other. I know things will continue to evolve especially as the little one gets older. But for now I'm grateful for these transitional times of day.

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