Of all the bedtime rituals out there, the most helpful to me has been the bedtime song. When my children are little more than newborns I start singing the same song to them every time I put them to bed. For both of them it has been "God is so Good." This simple song quickly becomes the signal that it is time to sleep. We can skip baths, read three book or no book, be in a plane, car, someone else's house, in the daytime or the dead of night, but if that song is sung, they know it is time to sleep. It has allowed me great flexibility and has helped both my children transition to "big" beds with barely a hiccup. (About the age of 1.5 - 2 I ended up not needing to sing the song anymore to signal bed time). My husband says some day it will be sung at church and our kids will fall asleep in the pew.

Here's a good trick I learned from another mom. She wanted her daughter to stay in her bed until 7:00 AM before she asked to get up. Since her daughter knew her numbers, but was too young to tell time, she gave her an analog alarm clock with the last two digits covered in black paper. The little girl only had one number to look at to know when she was allowed to call for mom.

Since he's started eating, I've had trouble serving tacos to my son because they were always coming unrolled for one reason or another. Every time he went to get a drink of water, his taco would need to be pieced back together. Today, however, I got inspired. After preparing his taco, I slipped on a rubber band to keep it together. It worked! Just keep moving the rubber band down as needed and much frustration is averted.