It starts the moment I tell Isabelle, “We’re going to go upstairs to get ready for bed.” She goes from laying on the couch to pretending to sleep on the couch.
This evening, Ari took matters into his own hands when Isabelle didn’t respond to my request to get off of the couch to go upstairs. First, Ari tickled her. When that didn’t work, he tried to walk on top of her. As you can imagine, Isabelle decided to get up thanks to the little brother antics.
Whenever Isabelle takes awhile to get upstairs, Ari decides to follow us. If I turn my back for a second, he closes the drain on the sink, fills it with water, dispenses several pumps of soap, and gives his rubber duckies a bath.
Isabelle brushes her teeth and watches the duckie bath.
Rubber duckies need a LOT of soap. 🙄
If I give up, this is my view.
Once Ari changes into a new shirt (since he inevitably soaks his sleeves washing the duckies in the sink), Marc takes Ari downstairs and does I-don’t-care-what with him while Isabelle gets showered. Once she’s out of the shower, I take one. Once both of us are clean, the two of us read together in her bed. Inevitably, there’s a knock on the door. In tonight’s case, though, there’s a barge-in through the door.
The kids take an eternity to say good-night to each other. He stays until we tell him he MUST go. And that’s when he rushes us out and tells us to “Skedaddle!”
Head over to Two Writing Teachers for more slice of life stories.
I am a literacy consultant who focuses on writing workshop. I've been working with K-6 teachers and students since 2009. Prior to that, I was a fourth and fifth-grade teacher in New York City and Rhode Island.
I'm the author of Craft Moves (Stenhouse Publishers, 2016) and the co-author of Jump Into Writing (Zaner-Bloser, 2021), Welcome to Writing Workshop (Stenhouse Publishers, 2019), and Day By Day (Stenhouse, 2010).
I live in Central Pennsylvania with my husband and children. In my free time, I enjoy swimming, doing Pilates, cooking, baking, making ice cream, and reading novels.
View all posts by Stacey Shubitz
I love how Ari encourages her up the stairs. We still read to our two every night, together. The mostly don’t kick each other, but I can’t say they settle down.
Ah, the bedtime routine! I really enjoy the pictures you’ve put with your text today–they give a clear picture of the scene despite your editing (which I like). In the first picture, Isabelle is clearly actually asleep–anyone can see that!
Oh the antics of getting kids into bed, I think it was actually much easier at the end for me with twins, because they slept in the same bed till they were five and had each other for company! It doesn’t last forever though, just like rubber duckies!
Raising Literate Humans 
I love how Ari encourages her up the stairs. We still read to our two every night, together. The mostly don’t kick each other, but I can’t say they settle down.
Love that you still read to your boys!
Ah, the bedtime routine! I really enjoy the pictures you’ve put with your text today–they give a clear picture of the scene despite your editing (which I like). In the first picture, Isabelle is clearly actually asleep–anyone can see that!
Believe it or not, she was awake. Sometimes she falls asleep in that position, but she was giggling the whole time. (I forgot to add that part.)
Perfect ending … I could feel Ari’s giggles throughout. Brings back bedtime memories for sure! Thank you for sharing.
I’m glad this slice was able to transport you back to memories of your boys when they were younger.
Oh the antics of getting kids into bed, I think it was actually much easier at the end for me with twins, because they slept in the same bed till they were five and had each other for company! It doesn’t last forever though, just like rubber duckies!