Great question!
My son is 2.5, but has had the same ritual for most of his life in large part. We go upstairs and brush teeth, wash hands. We rarely do bath at night anymore just b/c it tends to wind him UP not down.
after that, we go in his room, usually both mama and dada. We change nighttime diaper and into jammies, and then he gets to play one thing with his daddy -- an alphabet game, riding horsey, or signing a song he loves. We do 1 story that his stuffed animal reads to him
, and then we put on sleep sack and say 'night-night' to specific objects in his room. We've done the 'night-night' thing since he was probably 3 months old, and now he sometimes says 'night-night' along with me. Then we sit in the rocker, daddy says goodnight and turns out the light and shuts the door. I rock him and sing him 2 songs, twice each -- the same 2 songs since birth. After that we briefly talk about what we did that day, I tell him I love him, and its into his crib. Once in the crib, we say our prayers and then he asks for one more hug and kiss, which I give him. Then I tell him to cuddle his blankey and that I'll come back if he needs me, and night-night. And that's it!
Sounds lengthy, but I'd say its 30 minutes from the time we head upstairs until I leave his room. We only read 1 book at night b/c DS prefers reading stories in the AM when he first wakes up. Just the way he likes it!
