Night Night

Joshua has had the exact same night time routine from the day he turned four months old. He is very much a routine child in many aspects of life, as most little kids are, and that definitely applies to night time.
Bedtime has never been super easy with Joshua. He went one night from the time he was 4 months old, until he was at least 17 months old, without crying when we put him into bed. Often he only cried for a moment, but it still was not easy to put him in his bed crying. Naptime has also remained difficult. Joshua just does not like to stop to go to sleep. When we moved to our new house, we decided to try him out in his toddler bed because we had friends who had success when they did that with their difficult sleeper. There have been hard nights here and there but for the most part, it was one of our better decisions.
Nightime is a breeze now! And tonight was one of the best ever...the kind of moments when you physically feel your heart becoming mush.
Here is Joshua's routine:
Bathtime- tonight I think I was more wet than he was! Bathtime is easy and usually fun for all of us and he is having fun choosing what toys he'll play with and putting them up when the bath is over.
Getting in pjs- Joshua has always had sensitive skin, which has helped with his routine. He gets coated in lotion and a special cream for eczema spots. He gets in pjs and then immediately takes off to the living room, where the parent who didn't do bathtime is waiting.
Drinking milk- this is the time where he is supposed to be calming down and it requires all of us to sit in the living room so that he'll wind down.
Bedtime- this is our absolute favorite (well, at least Daddy and Mama's), it provides for some very sweet moments. We read a book together (though Joshua is usually an active participant in reading books, he is mellow by this time) and then talk to God. It is the sweetest scene. He clasps his hands (sometimes with his thumb in his mouth if he is really tired). Side note, he used to start crying when we got to "In Jesus' name we pray, amen" because he knew what was next but now he joins with a sweet "amen" every once in a while. Then, we hug and turn out the lights and he quietly falls asleep.
He does not like this routine altered. He has his "nineties", which is his word for "night night", more specifically his word for his blankets. Those both have to be available to him in his bed and if not, he won't relax. One night they were in another room and I went to get them and he was very upset that I didn't go straight from the living room to his room when it was bedtime. A few nights ago, Daddy went to turn on the fan outside of his door that we use to break up the noise in the house. This was right before prayers and Joshua called after him "God"- making sure Daddy didn't forget that we still needed to talk to God.
Back to what I mentioned earlier, which was the whole point of the post but had a lengthy buildup...Tonight we went through the normal routine and it was all very smooth. We read Brown Bear Brown Bear, a favorite. We talked to God and as soon as I said "amen" Joshua lifted up his arms to his daddy and said "hug", gave him a big hug and then I got my hugs. We walked out of the room, our hearts already full from our son asking for hugs and then we heard a sweet little voice call "night, night." We just melted on the other side of the door.