At least 1 evening a week, we are away from the house until nearly 7:30. And then we still have to eat dinner.(More about that in another post).
I have friends who put their little ones to bed WAY before this, when the sun is still very much shining. That works for them, so that's fine. I think it's more natural to go to sleep with the sun and get up with the sun.
So in keeping things routine, we don't eat dinner until later. Then after dinner turns into a rush of baths, cleaning the kitchen and getting the little ones wound down & to sleep. Then getting lunches packed for the next day, coffee pot ready to brew etc.
Inevitably, I have to solicit help from the hubby or my older daughter. Whether they clean the kitchen or get the littles cleaned up, it seems like it all falls back on me to get everything done at night. They usually elect to bathe the littles, often my oldest daughter putting the baby in the bath with herself, and my hubby taking care of the unruly 3 yr old.
There was always the question from them, 'Where are the little kids pajamas?' I always had those laid out either on my vanity or bed. They never could seem to find them, so they would leave a naked wet kid running around while they went in search of pj's. That led to more chaos. Then there was the question of 'what diaper am I supposed to put on her?' Again not rocket science, as the big one has 3 distinct night time only diapers, and the baby has 4 distinct night time specific diapers. Which led to half dressed kids running around. More chaos.
In my recent house purging, I was able to clear out a drawer in my vanity, to put the kids pjs, night diapers & clothes for next day in. This worked for awhile. Thru a combo of my oldest daughter not liking the clothes I picked out for the little kids, my 3 yr old not liking what ANYONE picked out for her, and the baby playing in the drawer, the drawer lost it's steam.
After some re-organizing in the toy room, I came up with an empty basket. At first I was just going to use this empty basket to collect misplaced items thru the day. Then it ended up being a catch all in the living room. I don't like catch alls, because it's still misplaced stuff. I was using it as laundry basket for the littles room, thinking it was small enough for the 3 yr old to handle and she likes to put up her own clothes. Light bulb went off in my head. Let her use it to pick her own clothes out the night before & put them in the basket.
So the Bed Time Basket was born. Invented. Whatever. The bedtime basket contains 1 each per child- pair of socks, underwear (or diaper suitable for next morning-thicker one for going out- thinner for staying home), entire outfit, nighttime diaper, pjs, items needed for sleep (3 yr old has a 'silkie cloth' she holds when sucking her thumb- trying to get baby to get attached to stuffed dog as she's not a thumbsucker). The most recent addition was having the 3 yr old pick out earlier in the day the bedtime story she wanted, which ended the 10 minute "I want this one. No. Not that one. I want, um, no... that one! Yes that one. No..."
The unruly 3 yr old with the Bed Time Basket
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