I take the dogs for a final pee, turn on a kitchen light, check to make sure the rest of the lights are out, brush teeth, put the book on the nightstand after my boyfriend has fallen asleep reading then watch about a half hour of TV.

on a side note, i'm amazed at the seven-year-old's handwriting! very adult-like.
i have two small children, so after they are done with their various routines and are finally asleep, i make myself a cup of tea and get to catch up on missed episodes of favorite shows on hulu. reading after a day of work/taking care of babes is a little too involved of a task these days. mostly though, it's just enjoying the quiet house :)))

We have a 3 yr old daughter...After putting her to bed, my husband and I finally relax on our sofa eating dessert and have a nice cup of tea. it's really nice soothing time...though most of the time is spent on reading useless stuff on internet.

I have a strange-but-true bedtime routine. After brushing my teeth etc. I put aside whatever new book I'm reading and select a book I have already read - some old favorite that I'm in the mood to revisit. I climb into bed and open it to a random page to start reading. Soon I am relaxed and yawning and then I can turn out the light and sleep.

If I were to continue reading an uncompleted book, I'd be unable to sleep until I finished it in the wee hours of the night.

This used to be a real problem when I travelled, but now, thanks to my Kindle, I always have 40 or 50 old favorites to choose from.

Hahaha that is so cute!

Now that it's winter my routine includes a lot of lotion for dry skin. I light a candle, crawl in bed, read my Twitter feed on my blackberry, then read until I can't read anymore. I have at least 3 books on my nightstand at all times!

My nightly routine is to see that my neice I'm raising is all tucked in with her things packed and readied for the next day. Making sure that the my kitchen is put to sleep neatly. Hate, hate, hate waking up to a messy kitchen. after I prepare my things for the next day and take a long hot bath, turn on Everybody loves Raymond for my last laugh of the night I then consider myself out for the count.

A seven year old writing on the wall? I get it when they're 2 or 3, but that's old enough to know better.

@Dulcibella: if it's strange at least you're not alone! I also can't fall asleep to a new book, so I've got a couple tried and trues that I rotate. Right now it's "The Sun Also Rises".

My routine involves getting a glass of water, brushing teeth, final pee, kicking cats out of the room and then reading until eyelids drop. Works like a charm.

@allisen Right! I can't believe nobody else commented on that yet.

Let my kids try pulling that stunt at age 7! No. Way.

Not to worry, the wall has dry erase paint on it so no permanent damage.

set up coffee maker, dog out for final pee, my final pee, wash face/brush teeth, lock up, give the dog a good pet and ear skritch, set alarm, read until eyelids drop :)

it's a routine I've had for years and do it without thinking

My parents let me do just about anything to the walls in my bedroom and it was great fun! I really don't understand why some parents are so uptight about the paint on the walls, especially when they aren't renters.

Anyways as far as the main topic goes I wish I had more of a bedtime routine too. I always have something different to do from day to day so I never know what to expect and it tends to go the same way with bedtime.

I'm so glad to hear the wall was MEANT to be written on (dry erase paint), I had been really concerned when I saw this earlier that the kid hated sleeping enough to take out their hatred on the wall...

My bedtime routine doesn't have much to it at the moment, but I'm trying to create one. The only thing that's constant at the monent is that I fall asleep with the tv on (on a timer). It sounds horrible, but I have a really hard time falling asleep without something distracting me (I just start thinking too much and can never sleep) and I will stay up almost all night (just one more page...) if I read.

I have a fairly strict bedtime routine because it is the only way I can fall asleep. I do the toothbrushing etc about half an hour before I go to bed when my 'bedtime alarm' goes off. I continue with TV and computer stuff for a bit, then make green apple-chammomile tea and get into bed to do crosswords until my eyelids droop. This is the only thing that has worked to break a 25 year insomnia streak that didn't make me feel hung over the next morning (sleeping pills).

boyfriend and i both have sleep issues, so we turn the house off, light some candles, brew a pot of tea, and settle down on the sofa for our daily state of the union chat. fatcat gives a howling three-minute warning before he herds us off to "go bedtime," where he generally mucks up the entire blanket situation until he finds his spot in the middle. tinyninjacat materializes from thin air to stake her claim to boyfriend's pillow, at which point we contort into dejected pretzels until someone gets a faceful of paw around 4am to signal that the furbabies will deign to be fed and have their box freshened so they can start their day. 4:10 is when the really good sleep begins.

In my old apartment, my nightly routine consisted of sleeping with Hulu going on the laptop next to my bed with an episode of my favorite show or a documentary playing until my eyelids got heavy. I'm trying to break myself of that habit in the new house - I shut down the lights, go upstairs and brush teeth and have a "final pee," fill my water bottle (having to pee in the morning helps to wake me up), find the cat and wrangle her, climb in to bed and read and drink some water until I'm ready to sleep. I think I've been sleeping better since getting the laptop out of my room, too. I know I'm reading more!

Definitely and I get away from the computer & TV at least half an hour before I go to bed. Final countdown is to brush & floss, pajamas on, turn the lights down from full-on to low light, Rodney Yee's PM Yoga in the bedroom for about 10 minutes, climb into nice comfy bed, cuddle with cat, snooze.

BTW, the PM yoga routine helps kids too.

I am decidedly old enough to put myself to bed, but I still wish someone else would send me to bed. After doing all those things I still should be doing first. And still being allowed to read once I'm in bed. One of my personal fantasies for more than 30 years.