Night Night Cars

My 1 year old son L loves playing with cars. We always play with cars in the playroom before he goes to bed. The hard part is for him to let go of those cars so that we can actually start his bedtime routine. The routine consists of reading and getting his stuffed dragon. It clearly does not involve cars.

At first, most nights were a struggle. L would end up screaming and not wanting to put his cars down. I knew I needed to figure something out and eventually I tried to play a game. The game was putting all of his cars to sleep and saying night night. I honestly didn't think the game would work out that well, but he ended up loving it so much that it is now a nightly routine.

When I bring him into his room, I would put him on the bed and we would say good night to all of the cars. One by one he would say night night. Then I would get his sleep sack on and give him his stuffed dragon. This routine has now expanded to balls, other stuffed animals, and whatever he has in his hands (which sometimes includes things like mushrooms).

It's so cute watching him say night night to all the toys. It's also great that he understands it is time to put them to sleep so he can go to sleep. We haven't had very many tantrums since this new routine started and I'm glad we figured out something that works. Bedtime with L has been really enjoyable and I’ll continue trying to enjoy each of these moments for as long as I can.