Bedtime = The Best Time

As the clock strikes 7:00 o'clock, Mitch grabs up Clara and marches her to the bathroom to fill her ducky tub with water.  It's bedtime for babies at the Bennett house.  Once the tub is ready, it's Clara turn.  She's taken to her room and stripped of her now grimy clothes and wet diaper.  I love seeing her cute baby bottom pass by as Mitch carries the giggling Clara at arms length to the bathroom.  Her little legs kick around in the open air below her, causing her whole body to wiggle and swing effectively along the way.  She's then plopped into her bath water.  I pop my head to observe the fun.  Clara splashes and plays, giving 100% of her attention to her toys, and doing her best to ignore the inconvenient scrub-down that is simultaneously being administered by her dad.  Once suitably clean, she is transported back to her changing table where she receives a new diaper and is quickly zipped into her feety pajamas and laid in her crib.

Now it's my turn.  I select three books from her shelf and place them along the side of the rocker for later, then rescue the now-whining Clara from her crib.  She nurses while we rock.  It's relaxing.  Once finished, I try to burp her as she tries to climb me.  I try to pat down her wet hair as she tries to reach the blinds and scratch the wall.  I try to squeeze her for a passing hug as she tries to pull and eat my hair.  Eventually we re-situate with her sitting on my lap and the reading commences.  As I turn the pages, she sits, completely relaxed against me (anyone who knows Clara well can appreciate that this is a rare occurrence), and listens to the words while watching the pages turn.  It's so SWEET.  It's hard for me to eventually stop reading (we may have done all the books twice by this point) and put her to bed.

I always end by laying my hand on her head and praying for her or blessing her.  Most often I pray, "God would you bless Clara so that she would grow to know you, the one true God and your Son, Jesus."  There's nothing greater that I could wish for my daughter.  As much as I love her, I know that God loves her infinitely more.