Today I am so excited to introduce Alice from Softball Alice. She is a full-time P.E. teacher at the school where I work and a writer as well! She will be doing my R post today!
I
rock. I am a rock star. No, I do not play the guitar, drums or even
sing. In fact, I can rarely keep in the same key when I do sing, but I
do one thing extremely well: Rock my one-year old to sleep.
This is a daily occurrence sometime between 8 and 10pm.
I am not one of those parents that has a spot on consistent routine.
Sometimes, we are just too busy living so bedtime is later. Sometimes,
we are exhausted because of all the living so bedtime is earlier.
It may not be a constant time everyday but there is a definite routine to prepare for rocking.
I
parent a little boy. Boys are filthy. They see mud and think: "I need
to be one with that." There must be some sort of force field that pulls
them toward the dirt and grime. Because of this strong force field, our
routine starts with a bath.
Once
the filth is removed, it is time for some light reading. This allows
time for the boy to dry and to begin winding down (Boys seem to never
stop moving. They are like little wind up toys. They go and go and go
until they can't go anymore.)
Next,
we get dressed for bed. Because of my kid's wind up toy ways, I let him
watch videos of trains on my phone while I dress him. I first get him
diapered (hopefully before any urine has escaped onto me or the
furniture), and clothed (it's always footie pajamas because every kid
looks cute in footies, and then his feet don't freeze.)
He
then watches videos while I get his bottle prepared (Yes, he is close to
two and still takes a bottle to sleep. I baby him and that is
completely fine with me.)
Eventually, he comes and finds me to request his bottle. This is where I become a rock star.
This
gig doesn't pay much but I think it is worth much more than mosh pit
making sounds. I don't get notoriety for this gig either, but I am
important to one little person and that is all the fame I need.
He
slowly drifts into complete relaxation and then to sleep. Sometimes it
takes twenty minutes, sometimes only two. I sit and ignore him until he
closes those little eyes, but as soon as he does, I stare and stare.
Soon,
he will be too big for this. Soon, I won't get these moments. So for
now, I will stare with complete love and adoration. For now, this is
the best gig in the world.