Monday, October 4, 2010

the family bed.

lately, my favorite time of day is nighttime.

around 9p, to be exact.

because lately, our evening routine with the kids
is jammies, teeth-brushing/face-washing,
& mom & kids pile onto the master bed
& mom reads a chapter aloud [currently, rufus m. by eleanor estes].

i love our shared booktime.
but the best part comes when i close the book.

first, little boy mutters, "cuddle,"
& he scoots over to me & we spoon,
while big girl pets kirby [above, imitating art],
our boy dog, who likes to hang upstairs with us
& listen to booktime & have his tummy rubbed.

a few minutes later, little boy calls for
dad downstairs, & dad & daisy, our girl pup,
come up & pile onto the master bed, too.

so all six of us are up on the tempurpedic
[luckily, it's a king].
then, the dog fight begins.

but it's not a real, mean fight,
it's just the dogs playing like dogs.
stalking one another, jumping on & off the bed,
wrestling, trying to pin each other,
chewing legs, biting cheeks, tugging collars.

it's mutt mayhem, let me tell you.

& it's quite a show.
but the dogs aren't content to just let us
observe & delight & goad & root.
oh, no, they crave audience participation.

so in-between bouts, they bound over to us
& walk all over us if we're lying down
or jump up on us if we're sitting up
& madly lick us all over no matter what we're doing.

our bed buzzes for about ten minutes
like a memory-foam beehive of wacky activity,
accompanied by a soundtrack of
faux snarling & uncontrollable giggling.

eventually, the dogs begin to take breaks,
with their big pink tongues lolling & panting,
& a parent declares it's time to go to bed,
& the crowd dissipates, off to their respective next-spots.

big girl in her bed with a book.
little boy on his pallet with his guys [& clifford, of course].
mom & dad on the couch, in the chair,
to catch up on mad men & modern family,
dishes, laundry & filing.
dogs downstairs in their living room beds
to nap until it's time for their real beds.

all that craziness just before bedtime
is a no-no, i know.
but it's just so dang much fun.

many days, it's the best time we have together as a family.

to paraphrase mr. ray charles,
the nighttime is the right time
to be with the ones you love.

the huxtables thought so, too ... remember??
[go to 4:30 for the best part:]




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2 comments:

Debbie Yates said...

I have to agree with you.....after showers and in PJs is little Barret's favorite time of day. Every night he has a topic that we are to discuss. It can range from Germs, Weather, Technology, and Sponge Bob. He is quite the intellect and very analytical for a five year old and is a little sponge of everything that he heard or learned at school that day. Once he has selected his nightly topic, he stands on the bed and "leads" the discussion for the night. Once he feels the topic has been discussed to his liking, it then becomes story time, back rubbing, and snuggling...which is my favorite time. Now, if I could just get Zac (my 13 year old) to join in the back rubbing and snuggling like he used to do, my night would be complete!! Sigh...

kriscard said...

omg, you've got to video barret holding court! how darling & awesome at the same time. the next night spongebob comes up, please see what his thoughts are about gary the snail [my favorite sb character], will you? ;D