where i've been

I can't believe it's been a month since my last post! I don't have any good excuses about where I've been, except that I've been taking a little break. In the past month, we've had the usual ups and downs of life: busyness at work; sicknesses to battle; house projects to do; Game of Thrones books to read...

My son also turned 4 at the end of June and had a police-themed birthday party. Nana and Bumpa (and others) dressed up. It was awesome!

I've been posting twice a week since I started the blog, but moving forward, I'm going to post on more of a casual basis, when something strikes me as worthy of sharing. As always, thanks for reading and for all of your support!

Best. Game. Ever.

I am a genius. I have come up with the perfect bedtime game to play with my son. It's called "Let's See Who Can Get Ready for Bed the Fastest". Here's how you play:

1. List the steps child must complete to get ready for bed. I.e., potty, brush teeth, put on pjs, find stuffed dog and bring into bedroom.
2. Go get yourself ready for bed while child scrambles through tasks. Take your time. When child comes in to see how fast you're going, tell them how much you have left to encourage them to keep playing in spite of whatever difficulties they're having wrangling those pjs.
3. When child announces that they are done getting ready, act really disappointed that they beat you. Celebrate on the inside. NOTE: It is very important not to let on how happy you are that they got themselves ready for bed; otherwise they might catch on.

That's it! Now, instead of the long, drawn-out process of nagging and stalling, you have a streamlined process that also allows you to fall right into bed after tucking in your little one. Double win! Sure, their pjs are on backwards, there's toothpaste all over the sink, and they probably didn't brush their teeth as thoroughly as you would have. But you know what? I'm not losing any sleep over it. In fact, I've gained 15 minutes of sleep. Hurrah!