Hair

Bedtime for Josh involves a series of small but significant tasks we do every night in the same way and in the same order. When Josh was about six months old and I realized I was spending more than an hour trying to get him to sleep at night, I quickly adopted a bedtime routine to try to make the process much more efficient (and hopefully more fruitful). And being the kind of kid who always likes to know what to expect, Josh has really benefitted from the predictability of the routine.

Most of our bedtime routine is the usual stuff: going potty, brushing teeth, feeding his fish, reading a story, and hugging and kissing goodnight. But one of our traditions is perhaps a little unusual. After story time as Josh is getting comfortable in bed and I am tucking him in, I lean over him and let my hair tickle his face at various speeds. I usually start with “fast,” where I shake my head back and forth as quickly as I can without throwing up. Then I downshift to medium and eventually land on slow, which calms Josh and helps him get ready to sleep.