CONVERSATIONS OF MAY...

6am.  A tap on my shoulder...

Jonah: Mommy...

Me: Yes...?

J: I'm up.

Me: I see.

J: Mommy?

Me: Yes...?

J: I had a very bad dream.

Me: I'm so sorry to hear that.

J: Mommy?

Me: Yes...?

J: Please don't be mad at me... but in my dream... I punched (my cousin).

Me: Wow, that does sound like a bad dream.

J: Are you mad at me?

Me: No, honey. It was just a dream.

J:... Because you know I'd never punch my cousin, right?

Me: I know you'd never punch anyone.

A few days later... 6am again... (I mean, seriously). Michelle Obama in a PSA on PBS.

Me: Do you know who that is?

J: No, who?

Me: That's The First Lady of the United States. That's President Obama's wife. They call her "The First Lady."

J: She was the first lady... EVER?!!!

Me: Not exactly...

I love May. 

INCEPTION: PRESCHOOL STYLE

Though bedtime has become a battle in my house as of late, there are actually a few sweet rituals that have little to no hysteria-three year-old-hostage stand-off- negotiation type qualities. One of those rituals happens to be a discussion about dreams... After I've told him a story about how houses are built in a factory run by five men named Bob, Steve, Joe, Fred, and Roger (don't ask), I rock him in the chair and tell him to have sweet dreams. Of course, conversation ensues...

J: What should I dream about, Mommy?

Me: Tonight, you should dream about chocolate chips, rainbows and Giraffes who play the violin---

J: No, no, no, Mommy. I'm going to have a different dream.

Me: Okay...

J: I'm going to dream about chocolate chips, rainbows, and fast, fast planes that go like this-shhhh shhhhh-shhhh- zooom! (he almost pokes out an eye).

Me: That sounds like a good dre---

J: But, Mommy, Mommy, Mommy!

Me: Yes, love?

J: What will you dream about?

Me: Oh, I'm going to abouuuuut.... Mint chocolate chip ice cream, beautiful green trees, and----

J: No, no, no, Mommy. You can't dream about that. You have to dream about, um, um, um...

Me: Yes?

J: You have to dream about shooter guys-

Me: Shooter guys? That's scar-

J: NO! Mommy! You have to dream about shooter guys, a house factory, and marshmallows.

Me: Okay. Is that all.

J: Yes. That's all.

Me: Well... That'll be an interesting dream.

J: But, Mommy...?

Me: Yes?

J: You know what would be so coooo-uuuhhhll?

Me: What???

J: If you were in my dream.

M: Yah. That would be cool. You can dream about me.

J: Mommy, you could have the same dream... what I'm dreaming mommy, if you want.

Me: You want me to dream about the same thing as you?

J: Yah. You can, Mommy. You can do it. If you want, Mommy. You can have my dream.

Me: That's very sweet. Thank you. I love fast, fast planes.

J: Not fast fast planes mommy. Poop. You can dream about poop. It's very funny.

Me: Oh. Yes it is.

J: Do that mommy, dream about poop.

I think I just got "incepted."

MY DREAM

For the past few weeks, Baby-Ko has woken up saying "Mommy, I'm up from my dream! Come get me!" As I pick him up out of his crib (yes, he's turning 3. No, he's not in a big boy bed yet), I do my best to cheerily ask him about said dream.

Me: "What did you dream about?"

Baby-Ko: "The jungle!"

Me: "The jungle?!"

Baby-Ko: "Yaaaaaaaaaah, the jungle. And, and, and, the ocean!"

Now before you marvel at how amazingly imaginative my young boy is, I must confess: He did not come to these brilliant visions and landscapes on his own. I sort of fed them to him... At some point, during a typical nightly sleep battle, I encouraged him to close his eyes and think of all these lovely places... I promised him, that in the morning, "when the moon goes down, and the sun comes up," we would talk about our dreams... And I did. In the morning, I asked him about his dream. He just said "it was good," then asked me what I dreamt about.... Well, one day I dreamt about a lake, the next day it was an ocean, another it was a farm, and so on...

Fast forward to this morning.... He dreamt about a monkey biting him and a lion named Fred. He caught on quickly.

The point to me sharing this is that it's what happens AFTER our little dream sequence, if you will, that will hopefully matter the most in his life and in mine. Every morning, after he gets out of bed, he comes in to mine, I offer him a "snackie," he chooses a show to watch (well, it's not like he chooses any show. It's not like he's like, "oh mom, you recorded, Weeds. Let's watch"), and I go back to sleep as long as humanly possible....

I gently try to remind Baby-Ko that there's an entire bed, and he should move over...

But he has made up his mind... he's staying put....

Sometimes he literally puts his head on top of mine. Skull to skull doesn't feel great and, to be honest, is kind of annoying...

But I know one day he won't want to do this- he won't want to cuddle and he certainly won't want to talk about wild monkeys and talking lions.... So for now, I'll deal with the lack of space and the lack of sleep. If anything, it makes for some truly wild dreams of my own....