When our oldest two were small, I came home from work one day to find my wife, stir crazy. She had not had adult conversation for quite awhile and being stuck in a condo in Long Beach was not helping. The previous weekend while at the mall I had noticed a help wanted sign on a clothing store.
It took little prompting for Tina to apply, she got the position and began working nights. This got her out of the house, made a little extra cash and clothing at bargain prices. More importantly it gave her adult time.
As such I got to spend the evening just me and the kids. After a couple of nights, I came up with a routine for the kids to follow. After Dinner we would play, then watch their TV show. At the conclusion they would get dressed for bed, brush teeth, give kisses and go to bed.
Tina's first few weeks at the new job was fairly busy and she really did not experience the kids routine, which had become ingrained with the consistency. Neither had I explained that I had set up the routine.
One evening off we all were sitting watching the kids Television show. As it ended I said my usual. Okay Kids, time for bed. To which the dutifully got up, got into PJ's, brushed and gave kisses marching off to bed.
Tina shockingly looked at me and said "What did you do to our kids?"
You would think the tale ends there but not quite. Not with Connor.
While in Canada yesterday, They had a very windy evening. Connor spent a lot of it up at the gazebo just looking out over the neighborhood & toward the lake. He'd come in for a while, then go back out to the gazebo. A bit later he came up and said, "Get on the night clothes, melatonin, and brush teeth." He kissed Diana, Omi and then went downstairs with Tina to do just that.
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