Sleep and Sign Language

We're over a week into the girls' new night time routine.  With the new baby on the way, we had to make a change to how we got the girls to bed at night.  The old routine essentially entailed two adults being in the house (we could do it with one, but it wasn't pleasant) so that both of the girls could simultaneously be cuddled and rocked until they were sufficiently sleepy to be put in their cribs.  We generally put Alivia in her crib first since she was the better sleeper and more likely to drift off faster.  And then Adalyn would follow about 15 minutes later.  This routine often took at least half an hour to complete and upwards of an hour and a half if one or both of the girls were really fighting sleepy time.

So.  The new routine pretty much mirrors nap time and it only takes one adult to be here!!  We start winding down, diapers get changed, they get their pajamas on, etc.  Eventually we just say "okay girls, time for night-night" and we walk down the hall to their room.  Sometimes they follow and sometimes we have to go find where they're hiding!  The first couple of nights, they went down without a fuss at all.  I think they were confused and honestly thought that it was just nap time...anyone can survive 2 hours of sleep, right?  By night three, they caught on that it was a little darker in their room than at nap time and that the humidifier was running instead of their lullaby music.  So we had quite the protest.  And the protests continued for the next few nights.

Tonight is night nine.  And although I had to go find Adalyn hiding behind the couch and Alivia hiding behind the snackbar stool, they went down without a fight.  They just giggled when I finally caught them.  Stinkers.  It's been a blessing to have transitioned to this new routine, not only because the new baby will be here shortly and it would be hard to cuddle both toddlers if the baby needed to be fed.  But it has freed up the other adult to get stuff done...be it yardwork, the grocery shopping (what Nate is actually doing right now), or other miscellaneous chores.  Personally, I do miss my cuddle time with the girls, so I try to get a little bit more of it during the day when I'm home...sometimes they're willing participants and sometimes they're not!

But in regards to sign language, the girls surprised us today.  We took both of them to Target to do some shopping.  When they ride in the car, they're typically watching Baby Einstein or something similar on the DVD player.  I was driving while Nate was sitting in the back with them.  And wouldn't ya know it, but they both signed chair, table and cup!!  Okay, so some parents of toddlers wouldn't think that's a big deal because their toddlers have been doing it for a long time and know plenty of words or whatever.  But sign language is not something Nate and I have EVER worked on with the girls.  EVER.  They simply watch their videos in the car while we're bumming around town and that's it.  And if both of us are in the car with them, we point out the objects that the videos are showing, such as ball, car, dog, fence, sidewalk, refrigerator, you name it.  We focus on annunciating the given object correctly and repeat it a few times to them.  Never once have we ever made the associated arm and hand motions that the little lady on the video does.  But the girls have picked up on it anyway!  We were pretty impressed.  It's still not something we will purposefully teach them, but if they pick up some sign language along the way, then that's absolutely fine!