What's does your 2 year olds wind down consist of?

[Nauvoo]

I was just interested to get some ideas for how to help DD wind down. Currently our wind down takes forever (which may just be what is needed) and is only partially successful.  We have used the same wind down since 9 months.  I was just interested to know what others do so maybe I can get some ideas.

[~Sara~]

Ours is pretty quick, 5-10 minutes at the most, usually closer to 10 at night when I have to brush his teeth and we say his prayer.

We change his diaper, and sing a little song.  We'll read a book or two at bedtime...nap time, DH normally makes that the last activity before getting him ready for his nap.  Brush his teeth.  Say a prayer here at bedtime.  Put him in his sleepsack, cuddle, and sing "Twinkle, Twinkle."  Lastly, we say our goodnights/sleep tight/I love you, and we're out of the door.  He normally will chatter to himself for about 5-20 minutes.  He's just not one of those kids who gets really relaxed with us being around him.

HTH a bit...

[*Jo*]

Caleb needs time, so we take about 15-20mins. starts wtih teeth brushing then:
Goodnight to Grandad if he is home
Go to room and jump into bed with blankey
he picks either one puzzle and a book or two books
cuddle and talk about his day
sing a song
cuddles and tuck into bed
kisses
lights off and blowing kisses at the door
door closed
Some nights he calls me back for one more cuddle, other nights he doesnt.

Im trying to get him to sit in his room and read a book or do his puzzle by himself for 5 mins so Im not spending so much time in his room and this seems to be helping him too, we use a timer so he sits in his room doing his activity in bed until the timer goes off, sometimes it works, other times he comes running back out again a couple of times. Its a work in progress

ETA: Caleb is not one of those kids to be left in his bed to put himself to sleep, he usually needs to be ready for bed and will go to sleep straight away

[<Catherine>]

Ds will be 2 at the weekend and is very difficult to wind down, particularly for naps. He does most of it on his own in his cot as he just wont sit still long enough when he's up. Bedtime is a little better as he calms down quite a lot once he's in his pyjamas and having his milk, but if I don't get him in bed soon after then he's wide awake and running round like a lunatic again!

[~Sara~]

Just another thought I had...I think it also makes a difference if your LO is in a BBB/BGB or still in a crib.  DS is in a crib, so we leave him to it as he can't escape.

[Tweakster]

This is good stuff.  We're currently fighting with wind down.  We try to start earlier but it seems to take longer when we start earlier?  What the lol

Anyway, currently we don't do much because he's nap cutting and so tired and second wind is always on our doorstep.  Short 5-15 mins of a show (whatever is on at the time) and then up for teeth, jammies, goodnight to Mr. Sunshine, mobile on with Twinkle Twinkle (although we can probably ditch this soon, I think it's more for us lol) and then he's telling daddy to put him in the bed.

[beckygatt]

We're struggling a bit with wind down too... She's resisting bed lately. Maybe its the age!! And since she's in BGB she CAN escape! 

We usually go into bedroom after bath, pick a book or two to read, then say paryers in which we also talk about her day. Next switch off lights, sing rock a bye baby and twinkle twinkle, and into bed. Sometimes she'll sleep right away, sometimes she'll get out and play/whine/cry a while and I may need to go back in a few times.

[~inbalance~]

T was resisting bed bigtime at 2yrs!!  We actually changed his wind down around that time as it just wasn't working anymore.  Previously it was straight from bath into his room to get dressed, have some stories, and go to sleep.  Instead we started giving him some more of his 'own' wind down time.  Let him come downstairs, have a bedtime snack, watch a short show.  Then jammies, toothbrush, books, bed.  That has been working well for us for over 6mos now. 

[Tweakster]

That's pretty much what we are doing, except it's taking longer these days, stall tactics galore, latest one is when you change his diaper he tells you he has to 'poo.  So I think starting earlier is the key.  Now I just have to pull another half hour out of our day somehow...can I just win the lottery and stop working? ;-p

[HLS]

My dd is 19 months today!  We start at 6pm, i run her a bath, put her lamp on low and set the bedtime scene.  Once she's finished her bath I get her PJs on. Everything is calm, lamp on and all relaxed (quiet voices...)  We come downstairs and watch In the Night Garden and my dd has some milk.  We sit quietly and once her milk is finished she has her dummy.  When the characters say goodnight on screen we say goodnight back.  I carry her to bed.  I get a nice kiss and cuddle from her and lay her down awake in her cot.

[Tweakster]

That sounds lovely - especially the 'sit quietly' part.  It's the only reason we use TV AND it has to be a show that he's interested in.  Or he'll get up and go off and play.  He's just not a sitter!  ITNG worked for a while for us too but he grew bored I think.  Bummer.

[~Sara~]

We'll watch some TV, too, between finishing dinner and getting him ready for bed.  But then last night, DH turned on his new favorite episode of Dinosaur Train...the one with the stomping song...so we all had to stomp around the living room   Oh well!

[beckygatt]

DD has been using stalling tactics too. The latest is going to the fridge for a snack. I've found sometimes I need to let her watch a bit of tv too after bath as otherwise it is still too early. Especially with the longer days. What is the usual bedtime around this age? Does it start getting a bit later?

[Nauvoo]

Later here for sure but only because of the later sunlight which is accompanied by a later wake time in the morning.

[*Jo*]

no later than 7.30pm PLEASE!!!! I cant handle any later!!! lol