Bedtime Stories

Tonight at bedtime John asked Matt to tell them a bedtime story about Scooby Doo and some new zany adventure for Scooby and the gang. After getting in their pajamas and brushing teeth, the three of them snuggled into our bed and listened to the crazy tale that Matt created for them. I was reminded of a long ago phase in our parenting life when John was having trouble sleeping through the night. It was quite a LONG phase in our life...like the almost year and a half following his exit from the crib. At some point toward the end, Matt started telling John bedtime tales centering around none other than Thomas the Tank Engine. John requested Thomas stories pretty much every night and we almost ceased reading any bedtime books during this time. But the stories were pretty creative and lengthy and John had strict expectations for them. There could be no repeat stories, they had to be a certain time length, and there had to be a lot of crashes and "confusion and delays" involved. It became increasingly difficult to appease his growing need for these stories. But he had miraculously at about the same time started to sleep through the night and we were going to do anything we could to encourage that behavior. So Thomas stories lived on, for quite a long time, around here. Tonight's Scooby Doo story reminded me of that long ago time, and hopefully Kara's imminent exit from her crib won't result in so many sleepless nights for us all. Or Scooby Doo may become a more regular bedtime character for us.

Sleep well my children.