bed time for mommy

Ava spends a few hours in the morning with the day care here at the seminary.  We pick her up just after they finish eating their lunch (red beans and rice are her favorite, go figure), and just as the class is getting put down for their nap.  The class has roll out cots the kids sleep on, and each day, the teachers have the kids lie on a cot with their blanket for nap time.  For those kids who have trouble falling asleep, one of the teachers will come over and pat their back until they fall asleep.  Well, several times we have come to pick up Ava, we find her sitting beside one (or two) cots, patting the kids who are napping - just like her teachers.  If the kid raises her head, Ava very matter of factly, but gently, pushes the child's head back down, and continues patting their back.  Her teachers think its cute (so she is not disrupting nap time) and so do we.  This has also become one of her favorite things to do around the house.  We find her all the time putting her teddy bears to sleep, putting whatever "blanket" she can find (her blanket, hand towel, clean dish rag, etc.), over the bear, and patting it to sleep.  However she is not limited to her teddy bears.  She has put her snow globe to sleep, her sippy cup to sleep, several other toys to sleep, and even Tucker to sleep (he is a good sport).  And tonight, while we where getting ready for Ava's bed time, we were reading stories on the floor, as mommy was lying on the floor, Ava proceeded to try and put mommy to sleep.  The irony and humor was too much.  We love that little girl.