Bedtime Cheerios

Bedtime cheerios. Such a simple little tradition in our family. And yet I have no doubt my kids will have fond memories of bedtime cheerios many many years from now.

It began a few years ago when we only had Ryan and Lucas. They wouldn't eat dinner so then they would be hungry at bedtime. The only food we would let them have was dry cereal. And a tradition was born.

Every. Single. Night. Our kids get a bowl of dry cheerios and a sippy cup of water to take to bed. They expect it every night, and they absolutely never let us forget. What's funny is that nobody in our house eats cheerios for breakfast. And the kids don't even like honey nut cheerios or any other sweetened kind. They are just obsessed with good old plain cheerios.

Lately when Andrew sees his big siblings with their bedtime cheerios, he gets jealous. He lunges at their bowls and grabs fistfuls from them before they can even react. I see a 4th bowl of bedtime cheerios in our near future!

Every night the kids take the bowl of cheerios up to bed. And I would say at least three times a week one of them spills their bowl. Cheerios on the stairs, in their sheets, crunched to powder under our feet. Every morning as I'm cleaning upstairs I find empty bowls and cups, and floors that need to be vacuumed again. It's kind of annoying and messy at times.

But one of these days they will stop asking for cheerios. And then I will miss the days of bedtime cheerios.

Now if only Cheerios would sponsor our bedtime tradition!