Monday, October 29, 2007

A Goodnight Kiss

Youngest has developed her own individual goodnight routine. Whereas the older two submit to a goodnight kiss and hug from us and just about whisper 'night night' under their breath back, occasionally treating us to a perfunctory hug, she has an unbreakable ritual that has to be gone through.

First I give her a kiss, then she solemnly kisses me on each cheek alternately, three or four times over, moving my face with her hands to get the right angle. Then come two kisses on the lips and then we have to rub noses. At the end I get a hug and a "mama, I love you" delivered in dramatic rendition, possibly taken from a Victorian melodrama. To which I have to reply "I love you too".

If she isn't completely happy with the delivery of her line the first time round, she will then give it another go, drawing out the syllables in a die-away manner. Then she will snuggle down contentedly, satisfied that we have suitably communicated our love.

I have no idea where this all came from - the kissing on alternate cheeks has a definite continental flavour and I often experience that flicker of uncertainty about how many times we should meet cheeks, just as when moving between Italy and France and their different conventions, I used to end up miscalculating and bumping cheekbones or else thin air. She makes no bones about it though and grabs my face firmly with her hands, to make sure that I don't get it wrong or cut short the performance.

9 comments:

  1. Adorable and sweet. Isn't it funny the rituals kids develop? Lily always has to kiss me three times before leaving for school, no more, no less.

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  2. Dakota has just recently decided that this is adult kissing and she really hams it up to emphasize how ridiculous we look doing it. Still, bedtime rituals are so important, and I'm glad Kody still likes us to go into her room once she is in bed to tuck her in and kiss her goodnight. Long may it last

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  3. I think it's sweet. Enjoy this time with her.

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  4. My brother's kids always insisted on a light kiss on the nose and big smack kiss on the forehead.

    Family rituals like those are beautiful.

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  5. So sweet. I love reading about these goodnight rituals. Pie and I have a nursery rhyme that we like to use: "Night, night / Sleep tight / Wake up bright / In the morning light / To do what's right/ With All! YOUR! MIGHT!" It's not a very restful rhyme.

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  6. I remember when I was little my brother and I always said goodnight to each of our parents with 3 gestures: "'n soentjie, 'n drukkie en 'n sjnoef" - a kiss, a hug and a schnoof. Wondering what a schnoof is? Have a look at the way Richard Scarry draws pigs kissing in his wonderful book. In practical terms it meant rubbing noses. The sad thing is that there must have been a last night on which we did this before consigning it to the history books, and I'm quite sure nobody realised at the time that it would never happen again.

    My dad also used to have to swing us into bed when we were still small enough - we'd cling to his arm and he'd swing us up off the ground, back and forth three times and then we'd let go above the bed and fall into bed. And before we said goodnight, he'd always ask me "and what was the nicest thing you did today?". Withough fail, I'd answer "om by jou te wees, Pappa" (to be with you, Dad).

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  7. That is adorable. My little one has a nighttime ritual too...hug, kiss, hug, big kiss...and if it's not perfect, then you start all over again.

    These are things that make being a parent worth it.

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  8. Awww! That is so sweet. I love bedtime here (not just for the obvious reason -- ha!), they are so sweet and snuggly.

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  9. Many years later now the bed-time kiss has all but disappeared from the teenager ritual, I just have to add the words that were shortly after added to the bed-time routine by Youngest,lest they be forgotten! The kisses and rubbing noses as described above,remained the foundation, then a forehead to forehead touch was added, followed by us both saying together "night, night, sleep tight, sweet dreams and all those good things, night night I love you." AS Jeanne said above, you never know when the last time is that you do thses childhood rituals. But there is a last time, sigh!

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