Nighttime Musings

Every night before bed I lay with Charlotte until she falls asleep. It’s annoying but it works and after 5+ years of her never sleeping she finally, FINALLY, stays in her bed all night and sleeps until the morning. Even her sister’s screaming doesn’t wake her up and it is a miracle so if I have to lay with her until she is a teenager so be it.

We have the same routine every night. I turn off the lights and climb in and play Twinkle Twinkle Little Star by Lisa Loeb (only this version) on repeat. I have no idea why this is her chosen song but here we are. She yells at me to move my knees and hold her and rub her back and I tell her 100 times to go to sleep. And every night she pops her head up and says “mommy can I ask you one more thing?” and so we began the round of Charlotte’s 20 Questions. She saves every single question and thought she has for before she goes to bed. Here are some of my favorites:

“Did Mary have parents? You know, Mary with the lamb and the God? Did her parents die and come back to normal life too? Oh so every Easter Jesus dies and then comes back? How does this work?”

“Can I have a car when I’m 12? Why can’t I have a car when I am 12 if I have my pink jeep now? Why is it the law that I have to wait to drive a car? Why can’t I drive my pink jeep in the street? Who makes these rules?”

“Why do I have to sleep? Why can’t I just keep my eyes open and stay up all night? I hate this time of day.”

“When is Mackenzie going to be old enough to play with me? She doesn’t do anything I want her to do and I’m tired of waiting.”

“How come you don’t have to go to bed when I go to bed? Why do I have to do everything and you don’t have to do anything?!”

“When are you going to get my hundred dollars out of the bank? Why can’t I just keep all of my money in my room? Why do you take all of my money away from me?”

“When are you going to let me hold knives and cut things by myself?”