Little Rituals

Textbooks on child development all say that young children are very ritualistic. I don't know if that is generally true of all young children, but it is definitely true about my two young children. Since we became parents of Kyle and Owen, Braydon and I have always joked about how with our boys "it just takes three times for it to be a fully ingrained ritual!" If you rock them to sleep three times in a row they'll expect it forever. If you let them eat ice cream three days straight they'll fully expect ice cream daily. If you let your guard down and let them get away with pulling the cat's tail three times, you'll never see the end of it. I don't know about all kids, but with our kids three times of anything is all it takes. K & O love little rituals and they latch on tight to them. Braydon and I are both like that too (perhaps that has something to do with K & O being like that, perhaps it has nothing to do with it, we just don't know). We've somehow lapsed into a little Saturday morning ritual of "snacks! and milk! and juice!" in "Mama and Papi's bed!" while watching "Elmo!" (a.k.a. Sesame Street). This morning Kyle and Owen were both asking for this at 7:00 a.m. on the dot. Braydon got the t.v. on, and got them settled in our bed while I went down to the kitchen to get everything ready. Sometimes in the craziness of our life, it seems that it is these little rituals that become the glue holding it all together.