Ruth enjoyed her bedtime activities tonight simply because she got to play in our bed. There is this sense of freedom & great joy when she dove & rolled around in our king size bed.
Then it occurred to me that she is the only one among our children to miss out this special treat. Ever since all the siblings roomed together, their bedtime routine has been done in their room, with moments of play, read & sing till bed time. Unlike Rachel & Reuben who had room in with us till they turned 4, Ruth had been sleeping apart from us since she moved into her crib & 6th month of age.
Our bed is their haven. Whenever our children were under stress or moody or afraid, they would like to come into our bed and snuggle down for a few moments & then went away satisfied.
Rachel would just want to seek comfort in our bed, now that she is transforming into a teenager; Reuben would often crawl up in the middle of the night especially after a nightmare, to seek refuge; Ruth would find any excuse to play in our bed, such as tending to her stuff toys & found joy.
And it is a place where all of us would relax & let our hair down, piling on top of one another, tickling, having pillow fights, squealing with delight or breathless after all that laughter.
I think we should resume this routine starting tomorrow night…
