One of my favorite books to read to our son John when he was a baby was a book called, "Goodnight, Moon!". A very simple story. Very easy for a young child to follow. It was great to read to him because it helped to settle him down for the night and get him into the mindset of sleep. Any parent who has read this book to their child will nod their head in agreement and a sense of nostaglia will come over them.
Bedtime was always a ritual for us. Somehow or other, it evolved into both parents going in seperately to lay there with him to help him drift off to sleep. Mark and I always found this time alone with our child to be like gold; a private audience with no distractions.
This is when I would teach him how to say his prayers. We'd talk about events and people; this was the time for our wisdom to be revealed to him. As John got to be older, each year Mark and I would wonder if this was the year when we would get cut off from this nightly ritual that we so cherished. We were amazed that this lasted until he was about11 years old.
I don't know what got me thinking about this yesterday. Perhaps because Mark just turned 50. Perhaps because John is pulling away from us as he is a full fledged teenager. Perhaps because he has an adult-sized body (he's just about eye to eye with Mark and weighs as much or more than Mark did when we got married 21 years ago). Perhaps because I was just around a brand new baby (Raine's) over the weekend. The intimate conversations are not as often since we don't have this night time ritual. Those moments are still precious to me, but it is in the natural order of the world that he acquires this independence from his parents. I guess I also realized that I need to start bracing myself mentally for the "empty nest" syndrome. Granted, it's a few years away, but just thinking about it made me realize even more so to learn to live in the moment with him. Sometimes it is a difficult task when he's pushing all the 'right' buttons!
So, goodnight comb, goodnight brush, goodnight little kitten, goodnight to the mouse in the house, goodnight little old lady rocking in the chair and goodnight moon!
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
Goodnight, moon!
One of my favorite books to read to our son John when he was a baby was a book called, "Goodnight, Moon!". A very simple story. Very easy for a young child to follow. It was great to read to him because it helped to settle him down for the night and get him into the mindset of sleep. Any parent who has read this book to their child will nod their head in agreement and a sense of nostaglia will come over them.
Bedtime was always a ritual for us. Somehow or other, it evolved into both parents going in seperately to lay there with him to help him drift off to sleep. Mark and I always found this time alone with our child to be like gold; a private audience with no distractions.
This is when I would teach him how to say his prayers. We'd talk about events and people; this was the time for our wisdom to be revealed to him. As John got to be older, each year Mark and I would wonder if this was the year when we would get cut off from this nightly ritual that we so cherished. We were amazed that this lasted until he was about11 years old.
I don't know what got me thinking about this yesterday. Perhaps because Mark just turned 50. Perhaps because John is pulling away from us as he is a full fledged teenager. Perhaps because he has an adult-sized body (he's just about eye to eye with Mark and weighs as much or more than Mark did when we got married 21 years ago). Perhaps because I was just around a brand new baby (Raine's) over the weekend. The intimate conversations are not as often since we don't have this night time ritual. Those moments are still precious to me, but it is in the natural order of the world that he acquires this independence from his parents. I guess I also realized that I need to start bracing myself mentally for the "empty nest" syndrome. Granted, it's a few years away, but just thinking about it made me realize even more so to learn to live in the moment with him. Sometimes it is a difficult task when he's pushing all the 'right' buttons!
So, goodnight comb, goodnight brush, goodnight little kitten, goodnight to the mouse in the house, goodnight little old lady rocking in the chair and goodnight moon!
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