Tuesday, December 18, 2007

you know you just might need a tiny bit of time to yourself when...

...you crawl into bed, worn out by a long day of cuddles, bottles, tickles, diapers, giggles, and smiles. You close your eyes, longing for sleep, when suddenly you hear a voice (your own voice!) whispering:
In the great green room
There was a telephone
And a red balloon
And a picture of--

The cow jumping over the moon

And there were three little bears sitting on chairs

And two little kittens
And a pair of mittens

And a little toyhouse
And a young mouse ...

-Goodnight Moon
by Margaret Wise Brown

And that's not all. You hear the entire book, over and over again. And see the pictures. And no matter what you do, you cannot shut it off.

Would it stop if you could hide that pair of mittens? Or convince the kittens to attack the mouse? And those three little bears sitting on chairs: one could use the comb, one could use the brush, and one could eat the bowl full of mush.

Perhaps making Goodnight Moon part of the bedtime routine wasn't the best idea.

Or maybe you're just going crazy.

17 comments:

  1. Let me just say that I haven't read that book in about a year, and I recognized it on the word great. It really does get lodged in one's brain.

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  2. We read it every night to our eldest as the last book, until one day he rejected it because it signaled going to bed! Our younger child loves it, and we even have it in Spanish!

    Emily R

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  3. I am so with you. "Goodnight Moon" and "Where the Wild Things Are", another GREAT book, especially when your baby becomes a toddler and REALLY wears you out.

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  4. Oh, make it stop, make it stop! *grin*

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  5. Wow, you need to read... I was going to write "adult book" but that didn't really sound right. You know what I mean. Read yourself a bed time story that is intended for adults.

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  6. HAHA! With me it is songs. I constantly have the boys' songs running through my head when I lay down. BAH!

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  7. I could never read the same book over and over again, for this exact reason - catching a swift train to crazyville, tee hee

    Variety is the spice of life, don't ya know?

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  8. OHHH, I have been there. Next it's when you give the mouse a cookie -- that one lasts longer, because you LIVE IT!

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  9. I'm with Chrissy - haven't read it lately, but knew it instantly. =)

    For now, I'm stuck reading "Indian in the Cupboard". I'm beginning to dislike Omri.

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  10. It sounds as if you're being haunted by the maleficent spirit that lives within that particular book's covers. Perhaps an exorcism would help. ; )

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  11. Hahaha. I have done the very same thing with the very same book.

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  12. lol, this got me laughing, caught it at the very begning. For us it's Big A Little a, what begins with A, Aunt Allie's Alligator's A A A.

    Dr. Seuss always gets stuck in my head.

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  13. There is something about that book--something that REALLY gets under your skin!

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  14. Yes ... I go to bed sometimes with The Cat in The Hat or Go Dog Go in my head - that any many a reindeer song. Take care and hope you get a good nights sleep tonight. Kellan

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  15. I feel a mom's night out coming on, Mama!
    I'll drink to that :)

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  16. oh. but how you will miss it when it is no longer part of the routine.

    I used to "read" it in the dark... holding the pages and turning them in the faint light from the hallway, and MQ nodded off as I rocked her

    that book. such a part of so many nighttime routines for so many generations of children. lovely.

    but not when you're trying to get yourself to sleep. ;)

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  17. I can still recite from memory "Where the Wild Things Are" and my youngest is 14!

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