Rock A Bye Baby

So, usually we sing to Isabella before she goes to sleep. Tonight it was actually quiet around here when I sang her the "In A World Of My Own" song from Alice In Wonderland. When I went to tuck Bastien in, he said "I could hear you in there, so I got a song too."

Then it hit me. I realized that though his sister has been a total terror (we may have hit a new record in timeouts tonight), his behavior tonight was stellar. He deserved a song of his own.

I'm not that great at remembering lyrics, so it's hard for me to choose. I started with...

"All the single ladies! (all the single ladies) All the single ladies! Now put your hands up!"

Bastien stopped me.

"No, that's not a bedtime song. That will wake me up. And it's a song for girls, silly."

"Oh, I'm sorry," I replied. "Ok, bedtime song...let's see...how about Rock A Bye Baby?"

He hesitated.

He was probably thinking, "Aren't I too old for that?"

Then, he smiled. "Okay."

...So I sang my little bedtime number. And kissed him goodnight.

"Wait," he said. "What happened to the baby after it fell?"

"Oh, nothing really", I said. "He just floated down like a feather and landed on the ground."

"That's not what Heather said. She said all his insides fell out."

Hmmm..."Well, that's her story. In my mind, the baby floats down like a feather," I countered.

"Yeah, but in real life, his guts would fall out right?" he asked.

I'm not gonna lie to the kid.

"Yeah, they would. But, in real life, nobody would put a baby in a cradle all the way up in a tree."

"Why not?"

Are you kidding me with this? "Because they wouldn't want the baby to fall and have his insides come out." Jeez. "Goodnight."

I'm about to walk away.

"Wait!"

I stop for a second.

He continues, "What if the baby was up in the tree and a tornado came and picked him up and spun him all around, but then, he fell down and landed on a bouncer and then he bounced all the way to China?"

Huh? I'm trying to follow. "Why? Is there a hole in the bottom of the bouncer?" I ask. I did tell him once that if you dug a hole to the other side of the earth, you would hit China. I don't know if that's true, but it's something someone told me as a kid. And it was fun to say.

"No," he says. And, in a voice as if I should have known, "it's the kind of bouncer Isabella had at her party... with no top."

Still trying to understand. "Ok, I get it. So, he falls inside the bouncer. But how does he get to China? Is there a hole in the bottom?"

"No, no, no." He thinks I'm an idiot. He tries to explain. "See, over here is Chinatown, but then he falls and he bounces all the way, far, far, far to China."

??? Nobody said anything about Chinatown? But, I think I get it. "Ok, so he's in the tree and a tornado gets him and throws him on a bouncer and he bounces to China."

Exasperated, "No, he's already in China. The party is in the backyard in China."

"Oh, the party with the bouncer is in China! Ok, so the tornado takes him to China?".

"Yeah."

"Ok, then, goodnight."

"Goodnight."

Glad we got that settled.

And I didn't have to answer "What if...?"

Parent:1 Kid:0