The Never Ending Bedtime

My son, who is now 11 has gotten into the habit of taking about a 1/2 hour to get ready for bed at night.


Since it's summer, bedtime has been pushed back a bit, so I start him off to get ready by 9pm, cause I want to have some relxing time with the TV and hubby before falling asleep on the couch :).


So his routine starts with standing in front of the mirror combing his hair into various 'styles' for about ten minutes, until I shout from the couch 'are you brushing?'


Then he brushes, rinses, puts in his retainer - another 5 minutes.


He then heads to his bedroom, which looks like a tornado has hit it; by this time it's about 9:20 and only 40 minutes til my bedtime!


I then have to do the 'tuck in' - he says to me 'sit, sit, sit' (this is the same routine every night now)....I try to be patient, but hubby has already started True Blood without me!


So I sit and we do best and worst - this is where we share our best and worst things of the day - a ritual started at age 5 and has continued. I share one best thing and one worst thing - He's shares about 10!!


Finally I kiss him good night and head out to the couch...I sit for ten minutes, finally relaxing and then hear...'MOM!' 'The cat is attacking me'. The cat gets tossed and the boy closes the door - 9:50pm....so much for TV time!