sleepy time rituals

Every night at the cottage after Oscar had brushed his teeth, said goodnight to everyone and after Aubrey had finished reading him stories - I'd go into his room and sit beside him to hold his hand as he drifted off to sleep.* And every night I'd kiss him goodnight and quietly ask what his favourite part of the day was. Often his response was "Playing in the sand" or "Eating Pink Ice Cream". It was a little conversation I cherished. My sister captured one of these moments between us (above) as Oscar and I snuggled on the couch at the cottage one evening. I have so few pictures of us (taken by someone else) and this one makes me so unbelievably happy.

On the topic of Oscar - I'm still trying to maintain what I guess I would consider as respect for his privacy by not posting a lot of photos of him. But as I also said, I was going to try to find a balance that felt right to me- because being his Mom is a major part of my life, so not show him at all was going to be impossible. But this moment above really is so special to me that I wanted it here, and also has become my profile picture on the blog.

Do you have a special moment at night with your kids? Do you find that they talk to you more openly as they lie in the dark, and the day is almost over? I'd like to continue our conversations as he gets older - so he always knows there is a time of the day, that I will sit and listen no matter how busy the day has been.

*Oscar still likes to have one of us sit with him as he falls asleep. Sometimes, it's a wee bit frustrating that we're in this habit, but 99% of the time I don't mind as I like sitting with him as he holds my hand and rubs my fingers to fall asleep.