Eli's Babysitter Instructions

Tonight Ben and I actually went out. On a date. Without Eli. (It's been a few months - I realize that's shocking for some people, but we have seriously been so busy since moving that there has been no time) We ate at one of our favorite Italian restaurants in the suburbs (Francesca's North) and wandered around a nearby Crate and Barrel, trying to decide what furniture we would like to eventually put in our empty living room. We found one sofa we think we like - the Cameron. I like couches with three cushions versus two (who wants to sit in the middle on the crack??), we like the sueded microfiber, and that the back is one piece, rather than big pillows because it seems a little more formal. We're still not sure what style of chairs we'll put with it on either side. Let me know if you have any ideas/favorites! (We're not super formal people, so it won't be a living room you can't touch - we just want it to look nice)

We ended our exciting date at the bookstore, where I looked at baby name books and Ben wandered around looking at outdoorsy books. We still have no solid name possibilities for this baby - 11 weeks to go... sorry child! We'll hopefully figure one out soon.

This is a rambling sort of post. But I thought it would be fun to share my obsessive compulsive, oh-so-detailed list of bedtime instructions for Eli at 17 months that we left for our wonderful babysitter - we think she's the best! After reading this, you may think it's over the top, and that's okay. I'm including this mainly for my benefit, because I think it will be fun to look back and see how things are the same/different later on.

Bedtime Routine…

Eli usually goes to bed around 7:30 p.m., depending on how tired he seems. I would start the bedtime process around 7.

1. Brush teeth – Eli’s yellow toothbrush and paste is on the bathroom sink.
   
2. Change his diaper (and he always needs more diaper rash cream because he has a sensitive bum) and put on pj’s (dirty clothes go in the hamper next to the changing table)
   
3. Read a few books – he loves picking them out from the bookshelf and bringing them to you (we usually read in the rocking chair or sitting on the floor)
   
4. We also say a prayer, so if you’d like, you can say one with him. He knows to fold his arms when you say it’s time for a prayer.
   
5. Sing a song (like You Are My Sunshine or Twinkle Twinkle Little Star) and put him in the crib with his frog and dog and I usually cover him with the green blanket and say, “Snug as a bug in a rug!”
   
6. Please turn on the sound machine (on the bookshelf). Turn off the light and close the door behind you. Please do the latch lock so the door will stay closed (this old door does not stay closed otherwise).

And since this post is all over the place, I have one more funny thing to share - this morning we went to a play (Little Red Riding Hood) with our neighbors and afterwards had lunch together. Our next door neighbor randomly asked me, "Do you go to church all day on Sunday?" I smiled and said no, but it's about three hours long. He said he was curious since we never get our Sunday newspaper off of the lawn until pretty late in the day. I thought that was a funny observation!