Lay in Bed and Giggle
I don’t know why bedtime seems to be when Cora finds me the funniest, but…
Bedtime has developed into something of an ordeal at our house. The kids don’t want to go to bed. Duh. That happens at everybody’s house. But Cora: you are possessed of the ability to stay awake seemingly indefinitely. Once we get you and Callie into bed, Callie will fall asleep within a few minutes of laying still. You, on the other hand, can lay still for a very long time—seeming to sleep!—without actually falling asleep. Tee and I will leave the room and not hear any chatter for fifteen minutes or so and assume that both kids are sleeping. Then, when we think we’re in the clear, you will call from the bedroom or else appear in the living room to ask for something: a back rub, a drink, a snack, the nail clippers…Something!
I’ve taken to laying down with you at bedtime just to keep you in your room. While we’re laying there together you ask all sorts of questions that you pull from the events of the day or else pull from your memory as though you’ve been chewing on them for weeks and are now finally ready to ask a question.
You’re really bright in these late night catechism classes. You—only five years old—have asked about what causes the sun to rise and set, gravity, why people make faces, ethical questions about how to treat students at preschool that you don’t like, why some people beg for money instead of working, and a dozen other things that are surprisingly perceptive.
During these little chats I do my normal shtick of not giving straight answers to see if you’ll recognize it as absurd and call me on it. During the day you treat these absurd ideas as mildly amusing; in bed at night they become hilarious and you end up laughing out loud. I love listening to you laugh that way but your outbursts get me into trouble with your mom too, because now not only are you up too late but I’m making matters worse.
But I’ll keep doing it as long as you’ll allow me. I love our deep, funny, heart-to-heart chats. I’ll miss them when they stop.