The goodnight thing.

The "goodnight thing" started before my memories begin. I don't know if I was a baby or a toddler but from the moment that my brain jumped in and decided to start keeping track of the events around me the "goodnight thing" has existed.
My mom always tucked me in at night and every night with me cuddled in my blankets we would laugh and giggle for about 20 minutes and then it was lights out and my mom would lean over and perform the following:
"goodnight" ::kiss::, "sleep tight" ::kiss:, "sweet dreams" ::kiss::, "see you in the morning" ::kiss: "I love you" ::kiss::, "goodnight" ::two kisses::
as I got a little old {pre-teenish} I could recite the whole thing in mere seconds by cutting it down to "goooooodnight, tight, dreams, morning, you night" with kisses flying everywhere and peels of laughter. It was always my favorite part of the day. Just us, lots of laughing, and lots of love. There were times when things were tough but we ALWAYS performed the same nightly ritual, up until i was in my teens {I dont remember when it stopped but I would guess around 9th grade}.
Our little "goodnight thing" {as I dubbed it when I was about 4} is such a part of my relationship with my mother that it's what she chose to write on my wedding quilt, it's what she called to say the night I had Amelia, it's what she says when she comes to visit and I'm on my way to bed.
And now, I'm a mom. And each night while I rock Alice to sleep, Cheyenne gets to put Amelia to bed. But before she crawls in she insists on running out to me and wrapping her arms around me as I kiss her all over her face and say:
"goodnight, sleep tight, sweet dreams, see you in the morning, i love you, goodnight."

This is motherhood.