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The Goodnight Thing
By Polly | March 7, 2008
What I Think I Know - A monthly tongue in cheek commentary of things I’ve learned (or so I think)….
It started when my daughter Grace was three. Partly out of just goofiness and partly out of my worry Grace was feeling neglected with a new baby sister in the house, the two of us created what we affectionately now refer to as the Goodnight Thing. The Goodnight Thing is a silly little bedtime ritual we do every night just before she nods off to sleep.
The Goodnight Thing goes something like this: with the door partially closed and me standing outside, I make 5 quick jumps back into the room and each time say one of these things, “I love you very much”, “No one loves you more than mom”, “You’re my favorite 6 year old (or whatever age she happens to be at the time)”, “I love you da more (da is how Grace used to say the)”, and the last using only hand signals as I point to my eye, cross my heart, and point back at her is “I love you”.
Now to anyone who has never seen this ritual, it really does sound pretty goofy, but to Grace it is one of the most important parts of her day. Not a night goes by that Grace with a soft pleading look in her eye doesn’t ask me to do the Goodnight Thing. It is our way of connecting after a busy day and most importantly makes Grace feel special. Special in a world where she has to compete with three sisters for attention, special in a world where she has to compete with 17 other kids in her class to be heard, and special in a world where quiet little girls struggling to find their voice sometimes have a hard time making themselves known.
And if I was perfectly honest, I would admit that sometimes after very long days it is all I’ve got in me to drag myself to her room for the Goodnight Thing; you know the nightly bedtime ritual that takes all of ONE minute of my time, but fills my daughter with something so powerful.
Somehow I always manage to find that one minute.
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