minutes away

Unlike this time last year, a final cup of milk before teethbookbedtime is rare, rather than habitual. It's pretty much guaranteed that his teeth will get brushed at some point, though he varies the amount of non-compliant behaviour he implements depending on his mood. He's recently started accepting whatever books are presented but still occasionally demands a particular reader. Pretending to not want to be zipped into his bag is commonplace, but he's either not putting much effort into his evasions or is unable to effectively evade due to genuine tiredness. He now usually makes it through the chosen books without falling asleep between us, sometimes even flipping briefly back into full smiley chatty wakefulness, as depicted. He doesn't always want to wave night-night to the arthropod-and-flower felt mobile dangling from the light fitting but always kisses his mum night-night and nine times out of ten immediately follows-up by flopping dramatically backwards in my arms into his being-put-into-the-cot position. Even with the blackout blind augmented by pillows stuffed between the window and the headboard to stop light leaks there's usually a stray beam to overpower the nightlight beneath the cot, but it doesn't stop him dropping off during the night-night book, but even when he's awake or even turning around to get comfy during it he stops moving about and occasionally even says "night night" back when we leave the room. Even with the occasional foray into random chatting to his wee cow and the monkey he's always asleep within minutes. Even when he's wedged in a daft position with a limb poking through the bars or his head where his knees were when he was put in he has so far never been woken up by someone sneaking back in a couple of hours later to tuck a blanket over him if it feels cold enough. This morning he even stayed asleep until just after seven. Good wee boy.