shhh....

bedtime has become my favorite activity as of late. don't get me wrong, i still have the moments where in frustration i hand the little man off to dad because he just isn't having it...but i would say about 90% of the time, it is my favorite time of the day.

it is the time of day where camden's attention is all on me, which is increasingly rare, since his toys are where it's at these days. it's just me and him. at seven sharp camden signs bath and so up we go to lounge in the water...bathtime is followed by jammies at which point camden signs "brush teeth" and proceeds to do it all on his own! after mommy gets the real scrub time in with his teeth we read a book and camden points out all of the amazing things that are happening and jabbers away as if he is the one doing the reading...we proceed to do a the "wiggle dance" to get all of our bedtime wiggles out...he loves that part and belly laughs the entire time....and then it is onto prayers where the little man proceeds to bow his head and fold his cute little arms and then peak up at me several times throughout only to be reminded to fold his arms again in a whisper, which he immediately does. after prayers camden snuggles right in and we sing songs and he practices his talking, usually in a whisper until he knows he has it...last night he said dog...twice! and i love watching his little mind work for things, the shapes he mimics with his little lips, the smiles that creep over his entire face, the light in his eyes. it is our time to talk things out, to share our day, to giggle ourselves to sleep, and i love it.

but nothing compares to the soft shutting of his eyelids, the slowing of his breath, the loosening of his grasp, the sweetness of a baby fast asleep and the reminder that no matter how big he gets...he will always be mine.