The Bedtime Routine

So when the wee one was born we heard a lot about this infamous bedtime routine. We heard all about its importance, necessity and nodding supernanny approval. SO we begin....we begin with the bath..temperature just right...we add the stories..the laying in cot...the sweet smiles....the kisses..night, night..don't let the bedbugs bite and he cried, he screamed, he cried, he screamed sometimes he screamed sometimes he cried and sometimes he screamcried. It was awful, hair pulling, madness making ... it did not matter what he did..bedtimes were always horrible, horrible. So here we are 2 years later and bedtimes are still such a trial. I have no idea how the hell this happened, but the bedtime routine has gradually become longer and longer and longer and longer. It creeps up on you doesn't it. I remember watching programs and hearing tales of parents taking 2 hours plus to get their children to bed with it ending up with them laying next to the child until they fell asleep or rubbing their backs until they fell asleep blah, blah. I would shout "what?!?! the @#$%" rant and rave about parents today (ahh we remember what experts we were before the kids eh)..what happened to good old fashioned bath, teeth, story and bed!! I am still a strong believer of this, but man they suck you in...inch by inch, minute by minute and the sucky thing is .. it doesn't matter what we do..how bloody nice we are it still ends up with our sweet one crying, screaming, crying, screaming, screaming, crying and yep you guessed it the screamcry. Our routine to date is bath, teeth, story in mums bed, tent in mums bed, go to cot, must get in cot by oneself (this involves some complicated step stool move thing out of a diaper package) head on pillow, must build tent out of blanket over the cot, read story from chair by cot, small chat abt day, night night sleep tight, then needs a drink of water, not that glass the other glass...no I want that glass, tuck me in, the other blanket, say night, night again...scream...cry...scream..cry. So you can imagine my reaction last night when hubby came to sit down on the sofa, after our third time upstairs since bedtime, looking sheepish. "You aren't going to like this"..he says. Never a good start to a conversation as there are numerous other things he does that are a complete surprise to him that I am not such a fan of(playing bury me in the mud pit outside - don't get me started) .."so..." I push..."what am I not going to like?"....."I may have added a new element to our bedtime routine"....I say nothing...."It is called the cape thing"...now there is an edge to the silence..but through strained gritted teeth I enquire, "and what would the cape thing entail honey (everyone is honey when I'm pissed off)....you fasten the lighter sheet around your neck and run up and down the room saying "I can fly..I'm a superhero". We don't talk ..sometimes it is just best to use your inside voice!