Over lunch one day, the guy sitting to my left was talking about his son’s bed time routine.  When he was done, he took time to tell me that his son his mildly autistic and that his routine and his need to ask the same question over and over again is comforting to him. 

I smiled and told him that I understand that.  Emily has Cri du Chat syndrome and her bedtime routine is extremely important. 

Up until a year ago, she was sleeping next to me, in my bed, every single night. 

I gave up on trying to make her sleep in her room 12 years ago when she was 5. 

12 years of elbows, knees, cold feet and an extremely warm body plastered against me. 

12 years of cuddles. 

12 years of going to bed with her in order to hold her until she fell asleep. 

I knew some medication could help her but I picked cuddles over drugs. 

A year ago, out of nowhere, Emily said she was going to her bed and she did!

Back to her routine!

I asked her tonight if I could write about it and she said yes. 

Emily gets ready for bed on her own, she changes in her pajamas and brushes her teeth. 

Than we get her room ready. 

Extra pillows and cushions go in a specific order in their special spot. 

We plug her phone in our room (we changed that recently as when it was in her room she was playing with it in the middle of the night)

We start the floor fan (summer, fall, winter, spring). 

The blind needs to be pull down completely, no light can enter the room 

We turn the tv and dvd off, set a DVDs box in front of the dvd player to block the lights and set the remotes I front of the box. 

We turn the ceiling fan on. 

Emily jumps in bed and says she’s freezing. 😜

She lays down in the same comfy spot in the same exact position every night. 

I give her the 2 babies who always sleep with her and their baby blanket. 

Next, it’s blanket time. 

First, her “horse” fleece blanket than her bed sheet, than her duvet, followed by the Toronto Maple Leaf fleece blanket, the Justin Bieber fleece blanket and finish is all with the princess fleece blanket. 

In that order 365 days per year. 

Once she’s under this pile of blankets, I jump on the bed, on Emily 😜 and hug her. 

I sing “soft kitty” while tickling her nose with my hair and/or rubbing behind her ears. 

After the song, I get up and say good night to all the pretend friends, humans and pets in her room and we go over the rules

There are 6 rules for the pretend friends and some rules have sub-categories.   This takes a couple of minutes. 

Once it’s all said and done I say good night and walk out while closing her door and making sure all the hallway lights are off too. 

If we are interrupted, we need to start again at the song 😳. 

The guy at the lunch table, from the beginning of my story, felt Emily’s routine was more complicated than his son’s. 

I felt their routine was way more complicated than Emily’s.  

Emily’s bed time routine is awesome.  We get her room ready than set her up to have a great night’s sleep! 

I couldn’t think of any other way for me to have great sleep!  

Good night!  

💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜

Find more about about Cri du Chat syndrome at 5p- Society

Emily has a her own page in the family stories , you can find it here: Emily

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