Monday, August 20, 2012

Bedtime Stories

If you've been reading here, you know I've been having a hard time squeezing in writing time this summer, especially when my husband has been out of town.  This may be my last post until mid-September until I get my life caught up a little.  My apologies in advance if I signed up for your blogfest...I might miss it.

My husband got back from Uganda on Saturday afternoon.  He was really jet-lagged and exhausted after 24 hours of travel.  He offered to put my preschooler to bed later that evening.  Yes, I think he also wanted to go to bed. 

We have a tradition of reading several books before bed to our smaller kids (until they get to the point they don't want to be read to anymore).  My husband normally reads to my little guy and said he'd do the reading on Saturday night. 

I heard my son say, "No!  Tell me a story from Mom's head!" 

That totally made the loss of writing time over the last couple of weeks worth it.  I've been making up stories at bedtime for him.  Sometimes I tell stories I've written.  And sometimes I just wing it.  One night he made up a story and told it to me. 

I offered to take over, and my husband went downstairs.  Five minutes later my older kids reported that their stepdad was asleep in a chair.  We decided to just leave him there.

I made up a new story for my little guy and then improvised the lyrics to a bedtime song.  We decided that I get to keep putting him to bed even when his dad's home.

12 comments:

  1. I used to tell my kids stories too. They'd all pile into the youngest bed and then each night one of them would take a turn telling a story. We called them the adventures of the Gourley family.

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  2. Ha, ha ... Kind of hard for Dad to tell a story from Mom's head, huh?

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  3. Aww, what a great story. It so made me smile to think of your little guy saying that. I have no trouble believing the stories from your head are fantastic. :)

    I can totally relate to cutting back on blogging and needing to get organized, I'm kind of in the same boat myself. Good luck and see you whenever you get back!

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  4. How fantastic that he prefers your stories. Hope your husband gets rested up.

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  5. That means you are a master storyteller, mom!

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  6. I loved reading bedtime stories. It was the only time I had to read back in those days. You making up stories is even a better activity. *passing Cool Mom award*

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  7. Yep, sometimes you gotta prioritize to get things done, and that includes putting the blog on the back burner for awhile. You gotta do what you gotta do. And how cool is that about what your son said. :)

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  8. Awe...that is really sweet, Tonja.

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  9. My son loves 'Aidan the Avenger' it is a story I make up where my son, Aidan, goes on big adventures. My eldest keeps telling me to write a chapter book about it.

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  10. Aw, that's adorable! Exhausting and time consuming for you but, if you're like me, you'll miss it when they don't want stories at bedtime anymore. :-)
    Some Dark Romantic

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  11. See? Don't feel bad about the pressures on your schedule. Even if you have little time for 'writing,' you're still creating, still developing stories, and still impacting fans. And in this case it's the most important fans to have -- your family.

    I wish you the best! No worries -- get caught up with life and family!

    We'll still be here when you get back. ;^)

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  12. How adorable :) And yes, get caught up with family!

    Might sound like a silly idea, but what if you used a voice recorder when you told stories? Might be good fodder for a children's book later :D

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