The greatest amount of strategizing during packing involves Klara’s books. Her bedtime ritual is as follows:
– first, N and I read books to her on our bed.
– then, N gives her a bath and reads books to her.
– after the bath, I take her back to our bedroom and read books to her there.
– then I take her to her room and read books to her there.
– then I leave, N comes and reads one last story to her. And then she sleeps.
There are never any battles, tears or arguments around bedtime. We are very very fortunate people in that respect. But the ritual is inviolable.
So you can imagine how much reading matter we need to bring for a 3-week trip. It’s not only for her but also for us. Last vacation I had to read the same book to her about 5,000 times and I still detest that book. She loved the repetition but I was going nuts.