Tonight, like many others, saw me snuggled in the crib with Michael. He is not, shall we say, an easy sleeper. And so, after many requests for his water, then some demands (unmet) for some juice, some dressing and undressing of his two dolls—Baby Max (aka “Mack”) and Baby Jack—some funny licking episodes (funny to him, not so much to me as my cheek kept getting slurped) he finally started to settle down once I sang a bit. First up, our old bedtime favorite “Sweet Baby James”. I can’t really categorize it as me singing as both boys have started chiming in, which I don’t think is helping them fall asleep, exactly, but it is so charming to lie in the dark room and here these small boy voices chime in “cowboy….lives….range…..horse…..cattle….compan-ons…..”. Then it was on to another favorite “Sleep, Baby, Sleep” and then on to Michael’s newest favorite, revived into memory this morning while we were looking at his favorite animal book: “Kookaburra”. And since it worked, I sung this song over and over, maybe 30 times just now as his little body started to calm down and his accompanying singing became more and more sporadic and his “do again!” request after each song became less and less immediate, his eyes starting to droop even as he was still attempting to match his own “Kook-beara” to mine…..30 times was worth it. There is beauty in their energy, and sweetness in their ever-present voices, and also absolute joy when they finally drop off to sleep. Ahhh…goodnight.
