The best and worst of...

Recently I made a small addition to our bedtime routine. Following book time, we now have 'the best of and the worst of'. This is where we ask Adrienne about the best and worst parts of her day and we, in turn, tell her about the best and worst parts of our days. I read the suggestion some time ago and thought it sounded cute, but gave it a try many months ago and Adrienne clearly wasn't ready or interested yet. The idea resurfaced a few weeks ago, probably around the time that I went back to work. Partly because I wasn't around all day to assume I already knew what the best and worst parts of the day were. And Adrienne is now willing to do anything to stay up an extra 5 minutes, including eating her gummy vitamins in tiny bites, attempting to read us a book at night (she does a pretty good job at this!), and putting away all her toys in a slow-motion fashion. So she is happy to stay out of bed to tell you about the best and worst parts of her days in a long winded tirade in that adorable almost-three year old speak. Truthfully, since I'm at work all day now, I'm happy to give her a legitimate excuse to stay up an extra five minutes as well. Those hours after work go so fast! Unlike when I was at home, where I was trying to convince her to go to bed 15 minutes early whenever possible (which was not often successful, I might add). 

Even more than just enjoying a little extra time together, she actually has some opinions and insights from her day that I didn't expect. The best parts of the day are usually not so surprising: going to the park, playing with friends, jumping in the bounce house, videos on my phone, etc... It's the worst of the day that is usually more interesting. I have learned that Adrienne really doesn't like drains. Like the big rain-gutter drains on the street. And also the bathtub drain. She is afraid she'll get sucked down them and we'll have to get a tow truck to pull her out. The end of bathtime is often the worst part of the day because we have to pull the plug. She doesn't like puddles with too much mud in them or being dirty. Or washing her hands. She also doesn't like the nasty bees we saw at the Natural History museum, even though she seemed very fascinated by them while we were there. Ditto with the big spider ("scary!") unless the big spider wants to feed her flowers like in the 'Miss Spider's Tea Party' story, in which case that will become the best part of the day. She must take after me because the worst part of my day a few weeks ago was seeing a large cockroach at work. Now every day she wants me to be careful of the cucarachas (which Adrienne fittingly calls "pooparachas"). If we didn't ask before bedtime, I'm sure that bedtime would actually be the worst part of the day.

As for me, I like the new addition to the bedtime routine and hope we can keep it around. I like hearing about Adrienne's day and reflecting briefly on mine. I like that my husband plays along. I look forward to the day that Nate can share his bests and worsts, too.  And more than that, I hope that Adrienne remembers someday in the future that, frequently, the best part of my day is often those extra five minutes of listening to 'the best and worst of' her day.