Rub, Pound, Squeeze, Scratch

Lately, I have been appreciating how some small pieces of childhood go with us into adulthood, and then get passed down to our children.

For example, when Emmett was little, he loved getting backrubs at bedtime. In order to speed up the process, his parents invented "Rub, Pound, Squeeze, Scratch." That way, they could do a super-quick backrub or a longer one, depending on how much time they had.

Evan and Corrie are mostly good at going to sleep ... now. But there was a long time when putting Corrie to bed was a huge chore. We were like an episode of Supernanny every night. Put her in bed, she comes out. Pick her up, no talking, put her back in bed. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. We tried everything to get her to go to bed! Lights, no lights. Music, no music. Locking her in. It was frustrating.

Eventually, we tried "Rub, Pound, Squeeze, Scratch." I don't think it was the turning point in getting Corrie to embrace bedtime, but it did help.

Evan likes it, too. Now Emmett reads the kids a story and prays with them. I do Ben's bedtime, then visit the big kids for "Rub, Pound, Squeeze, Scratch" and a snuggle. When Ben gets older, I'm sure he'll get in on the backrub action, too.

I don't want to forget this bedtime routine. Who knows? Maybe our grandchildren will fall asleep to "Rub, Pound, Squeeze, Scratch" one day. :)