A long time ago Brandon was tired but wouldn’t go to bed. I started tickling his back and he loved it. From then on he would ask Rob or I to tickle his back or tummy. I love doing that, I love when he asks me to tickle his back. We have other night time rituals too. Brandon has bad dreams at night. Some nights they escalate to night terrors even. Lately what I’ve started doing is trying to talk to him about good things before bed. Happy things. First I tell him a story that always stars a little boy named Brandon. Sometimes we read books, his favorites are, How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight and Sleepyhead? And then as I tickle his back while he drifts off I say, “don’t forget to dream about Christmas.” He replies, “I won’t forget.” I do this over and over while drowses. Don’t forget Christmas, marshmallows, cookies, candy, Halloween, the part, etc. He drifts off mumbling about Santa clause and marshmallows. Most nights it seems he sleeps better.

Tonight however, was my most favorite. Tonight while putting him to bed he said:

“Mom, will you tickle my eyes.”

Then I melted. He drifted off to sleep as I gently rubbed his eyebrows and told him a story about reindeer going clack clack clack on the roof.

Also, check out the books I mentioned above. They are great bed time stories. However Jane Yolen also has a great collection of dinosaur books. We love reading How do Dinosaurs Eat Their Dinner. Kohls sells these for $5.00. You should really check them out, here is the collection.

I love the Sleepy head book for so many reasons. The colors and illistrations are so pretty and the words are very…soothing. Brandon loves it and shouts SWEEPY HEAD when he sees it. Anyway Christmas is coming up so I thought I would start sharing a few of my most favorite books with y’all.