Ed's Dreams

The other night, while trying to settle my boys down for the night and reading a bedtime story, my eldest son Ed started to ‘natter’.

The closer we got to Christmas eve, the harder it was getting to settle them down, they were more and more excitable every night, and I got more and more frantic as the nights went on.

Despite this however, I try not to disregard Ed’s nattering, because when Ed natters, all sorts of marvellous truths pour from his four year old mouth, perceptions and opinions one would never know he had until one takes the time to actually listen. But, one does have to sit through a certain amount of crap to get the good stuff.

So, even though I was trying to get through a story (and I do so hate being disturbed), Ed started his nattering.

He told me;

“Sometimes when I’m dreaming, I wake up a little bit and then my dreams turn into thinks”

I said;

“That’s brilliant! That happens to me sometimes. And sometimes, when you wake up a little bit, you can change your dream or add things to it to make it better. It works especially well if you’re having a bad dream, you can bring in a superhero or Dr Who to save the day”

Amazingly, he replied;

“When I’m having a bad dream, I take it out my head and put it up there on the shelf (pointing to the shelf he can reach near his bed). Then I get my magic wand (standing up -much to my dismay since I’m trying to get them settled- he pulls an imaginary wand from his imaginary back pocket and waves it in the air) and I ‘ca-booom’ it (insert magic wand sound effects here). It makes it into a good dream, and then I put it back into my head” (jumping off his bed, fetching his dream and plonking it into his head).

Completely blown away by this, I finish our story, kiss them goodnight and off they go to sleep.

What an amazingly contented little man he is!

I’m proud of him, and of me. I’m sure I’m not alone and that we all have those moments when we think we must be the worst mother in the world. But then there are moments like this, when I realise despite all the crap of everyday life, I have actually managed to bring up a two small boys who are confident and happy and contented. 

And to quote Metallica, nothing else matters.