Ditching the Mental Checklist (For One Night)

Every night at about 7 p.m. I find myself racing against the clock. As the minutes tick by, I'm marking off my mental checklist.

OK, if I can get the kids to finish eating by this time, I can get the toddler in the bath at this time, which means she'll be in bed at this time. We're totally only reading one bedtime book tonight though... it's been a long day and I've still got a baby to feed and put to bed and wash all the bottles and clean the kitchen and just RELAX and watch some HGTV and eat that KitKat bar I've been  strategically hiding all day. I just hope said toddler doesn't decide to play a game of 20 questions as I turn off her light.

I'm totally aware of the run-on sentence above, but that just gives you a quick picture of what's going on inside of my head. I've had enough conversations with other moms to know that I am not alone in this battle.

So tonight as we drove home from dinner with friends, I sat there preparing the mental checklist. Debating whether or not the toddler really needed a bath. I mean, did she really get all that dirty playing outside? (The answer is yes, she really did get all that dirty playing outside). Well, at least we've already eaten. Maybe we can do a quick bath... no toys, no inside jokes, no fun. Strictly business. Yes, that'll be great and she can be in bed and I can have my date with Chip and JoJo and my hidden stash of candy in no time!

That was the plan. So I put said baby in his swing and threw said toddler in the tub. I told her we were doing a bath as fast as we can tonight. She looked up at me with her big blue eyes and asked, "why?"

Now anyone with a toddler knows that "why" is simply part of their vocabulary. A common word used to go down the rabbit hole. Only this time... she wasn't trying to be funny... she genuinely asked it. I was about to just say, "it's late, so we need to hurry."

But then I thought... well, why? Why couldn't I give my daughter a little extra time just one night? Why couldn't I just relax and forget about the minutes ticking away for one night?

So I altered the plan. She played in her bath until her fingers were wrinkly. We danced to "Shake it Off" after putting on her pajamas. I blow dried her hair. I painted her toe nails in a hue of her choice. And, when it came time to crawl into bed, we read THREE books and sang THREE songs. We even made shadow animals with her lamp. Then as I turned off the light instead of getting huffy when she inevitably said, "Mommy, I want to ask you a question." I said (with a smile on my face), "yes?"

"Mommy, did you know that tickles make us laugh?"

I said yes, I do and with that we said our final good nights. I checked the time for the first time since before I put her in the bath. 9:15. A whole 45 minutes past her bed time. A whole 45 minutes well spent.

I'm sure tomorrow my checklist will return, because let's be real, mommy's gotta have some me-time, but for now I'm going to the relish the fact that I have a red-toe-nailed-polished-happy little girl tucked away in her bed and a sweet baby boy asleep in my arms instead of his crib while I type this post.