Thursday, May 26, 2005
Bedtime Stories
My bedtime ritual with Max continues to evolve. Over time, it has included rapping the words to Goodnight, Moon, reading by flashlight in a nearby chair until Max fell asleep, tossing him into bed like a sack of potatoes, crooning silly improvised lullabies, and tucking him into a sleeping bag or tent. Last weekend, Max earned a set of sheets covered with dinosaurs as a reward for his first full day without diapers, and since then, what was once the drama of bedtime has become almost effortless. I wish I'd found dinosaur sheets sooner.
A few weeks ago Max added a new dimension to our routine by asking me to tell him a bedtime story. I made up a tale about a mischievous little monkey named Max. The following night, Max asked me to tell him a story about a little zebra named Max. Since then, he has asked for stories about a lion, an elephant, a rhinocerous, a zebra, a frog, a kangaroo, a mouse, a gorilla, a camel, and a whale, all coincidentally named Max.
Remarkably, Max the Boy has kept track of the menagerie that parades through his room at night and can recount most of their adventures and misadventures as well. The little zebra named Max ran away and got lost, but his mommy found him because she could see his white stripes in the dark. The little elephant named Max was sad that his trunk was too short, but discovered it was long enough to save his friend the frog from a well. The little rhinocerous named Max wandered too far from home and fell into a hole, but the hole saved him from a stampede of wildebeasts, and then his mommy found him and led him home. The little lion named Max didn't want to go to bed, so his mommy took him hunting for three days and three nights, and he learned that sometimes the best feeling in the whole world is to lie down on a soft bed and go to sleep. You've already surmised it, and I'll confess it right now: Many of these stories are deliberate messages sent in hopes of helping us clear some hurdle with Max. But I'm learning that sometimes a story arises, quite by surprise, from the well of my own unconsciousness.
Last night, Max asked me to tell him a story about a little polar bear named Max. Max the Polar Bear was very lonely. He desperately wanted to make friends, so every time he saw a human or another animal he ran in their direction. When the humans and animals saw Max the Polar Bear approaching at a rapid speed, they were afraid he intended to hurt them, and they ran away. Wracked with sadness, he went to his mommy, and this is what he said:
"Mommy, I'm so lonely. I want to make friends but I don't know how. Today I was excited because I saw a human by a tent. But when he saw me, he shouted, 'Arghhhh!' and ran away. Then I saw a fish in the river and I ran into the water to play with it, but when it saw me, its eyes got very big and it swam away. Next I saw a deer lying under a tree, and I ran to meet her, but when saw me, she screamed, 'Eeeek!' and ran away."
Max's mommy knew that being misunderstood and lonely can be very painful. She asked Max the Polar Bear if he'd like for them to talk about some ways he might make friends.
At this suggestion, the face of Max the Boy brightened. "I know! He could make friends with some other bears, you know, like a polar bear or a koala bear or a panda bear."
Content that he had solved the problems of at least one small bear, Max was ready to sleep.
A few weeks ago Max added a new dimension to our routine by asking me to tell him a bedtime story. I made up a tale about a mischievous little monkey named Max. The following night, Max asked me to tell him a story about a little zebra named Max. Since then, he has asked for stories about a lion, an elephant, a rhinocerous, a zebra, a frog, a kangaroo, a mouse, a gorilla, a camel, and a whale, all coincidentally named Max.
Remarkably, Max the Boy has kept track of the menagerie that parades through his room at night and can recount most of their adventures and misadventures as well. The little zebra named Max ran away and got lost, but his mommy found him because she could see his white stripes in the dark. The little elephant named Max was sad that his trunk was too short, but discovered it was long enough to save his friend the frog from a well. The little rhinocerous named Max wandered too far from home and fell into a hole, but the hole saved him from a stampede of wildebeasts, and then his mommy found him and led him home. The little lion named Max didn't want to go to bed, so his mommy took him hunting for three days and three nights, and he learned that sometimes the best feeling in the whole world is to lie down on a soft bed and go to sleep. You've already surmised it, and I'll confess it right now: Many of these stories are deliberate messages sent in hopes of helping us clear some hurdle with Max. But I'm learning that sometimes a story arises, quite by surprise, from the well of my own unconsciousness.
Last night, Max asked me to tell him a story about a little polar bear named Max. Max the Polar Bear was very lonely. He desperately wanted to make friends, so every time he saw a human or another animal he ran in their direction. When the humans and animals saw Max the Polar Bear approaching at a rapid speed, they were afraid he intended to hurt them, and they ran away. Wracked with sadness, he went to his mommy, and this is what he said:
"Mommy, I'm so lonely. I want to make friends but I don't know how. Today I was excited because I saw a human by a tent. But when he saw me, he shouted, 'Arghhhh!' and ran away. Then I saw a fish in the river and I ran into the water to play with it, but when it saw me, its eyes got very big and it swam away. Next I saw a deer lying under a tree, and I ran to meet her, but when saw me, she screamed, 'Eeeek!' and ran away."
Max's mommy knew that being misunderstood and lonely can be very painful. She asked Max the Polar Bear if he'd like for them to talk about some ways he might make friends.
At this suggestion, the face of Max the Boy brightened. "I know! He could make friends with some other bears, you know, like a polar bear or a koala bear or a panda bear."
Content that he had solved the problems of at least one small bear, Max was ready to sleep.
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