My brain is still asleep

These are the words I heard from my 4 year old Joshua this morning, 'Mummy I can't wake up, by brain is still asleep'. I often wonder where he gets his imagination from, it must be his father!

Getting the kids to bed is something I speak to my friends about frequently, some of them are traditionalists; dinner, bath, story and bed, others are more open minded and let their kids determine when they are tired so they forego the evening drama of attempting to get them into bed. Me, well I am stuck in the middle. Joshua is nearly 5 and Jadon turned 1 last week and they both have the same bed time routine; dinner, bath, DVD and bed. Well Jadon doesnt watch a DVD he has a cuddle in bed with mummy and a bottle.

My mother hates my approach but it works for us. Josh is asleep most nights by his 8pm bedtime and Jadon loves his cuddles and falls to sleep right at the end of his bottle, so, why should I change my routine to fit within the boundaries of being a good mother?

I believe bedtime should be fun, I want Josh and Jadon to enjoy their mummy (and daddy) time, afterall they will soon be dreaded teenagers and hate hugs and kisses. I encourage my boys to want to go to bed and look forward to our cuddles and fun at bedtime. The only thing I don't do is read a bedtime story and the reason for that is that Joshua gets excited by books and will not relax, this puts sleep into a distant memory, so I will stick to DVDs for now...How do you put your babies to bed?