Bedtime Stories

It's no secret that bedtime is my favorite time of day. One of the good things about short, winter days is that the early darkness gives me an excuse to get my pajamas on as early as I want.

Isn't climbing into bed with a book heavenly? I remember when I was little I'd take a flashlight to bed so I could read under the covers. I don't indulge in many books these days. It's too risky. If it's a really good book it will consume me and I will ignore my family and stay up way too late while I read just one more page. Okay, one more chapter...or five. And then I can't function the next day.

So in this stage of life most of my bedtime stories are C.J.'s. I love this mommy-son time. But lately it's getting a bit more challenging. C.J. wants to know what EVERYTHING does. I guess it's how he learns about the world. But it means every book takes about four times longer than it should to read. For example:

M: Goodnight Moon

CJ: What does the moon do?

M: It shines in the sky at night.

M (very quickly to avoid interruptions): In the great green room there was a telephone and a red balloon

CJ: What does the red balloon do?

M: It floats around the room.

M: And a picture of--the cow jumping over the moon.

CJ: What does the cow do?

M: It jumps over the moon.

CJ: What does the moon do?

M: It shines in the sky at night...

I have resorted to skipping pages so we can make it through the book. Don't tell C.J.

Another book, "When Cows Come Home", has a page about cows doing somersaults. When I forget to skip that page, it sparks another action: C.J. climbing out of his bed to show me his somersaults.

But bedtime reading is still my favorite time of day.

Grammy came for dinner last week and stayed for bedtime stories. What a treat!