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9/4/1999 Saturday Watching: Dead Again, one of my all-time favorite movies.
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Dream a Little DreamSeptember On Display CollabStars shining bright above you A couple of years ago, when the twins were just two years old, Stephen suddenly began resisting bed time. Up until then he had been the best sleeper of all three of my children, sleeping through the night from the age of eleven weeks on. But now he was fighting sleep, yelling "No!" when I told him it was time for bed and crying bitterly when I closed the door to his and Matthew's room. The twins had recently stopped breastfeeding, and I think Stephen was missing some cuddling time with me. The two of them were such whirlwinds of activity during the day, we had little time just to sit on the couch and be close to each other as we had during our nursing years. Say nighty-night and kiss me I decided what we needed was a bed time ritual. I usually read to them before I took them upstairs, but I thought it might help Stephen if we had a special song that I could sing to them, something that would make the transition to bed time easier for him. The question was, which song? The traditional "Rock-a-Bye, Baby" has that frightening image of a baby plummeting to earth, cradle and all. I could never remember all the words to "Lullaby and Goodnight." And that mockingbird song always confused me. If papa first buys baby a cart and bull, why does he later buy baby a horse and cart? Why does a baby need two carts? Or even one, for that matter? OK, I'm quibbling here, but I'm still not crazy about that song. Stars fading but I linger on, dear One day I was listening to a classic rock station and heard Cass Elliott singing Gus Kahn's song, "Dream a Little Dream." Perfect, I thought. I loved both the melody and the words.
Two years later I'm still singing "Dream a Little Dream" every night. If I'm not home to put the twins to bed, Tab does his best to sing the song, and if he forgets any of the words, the twins correct him. At over 30 pounds each, the boys are a hefty armful, but they still want to be held when I sing to them. Sweet dreams 'til sunbeams find you
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I began singing it to them at bed time just after reading our last book of the night and just before taking them upstairs to their cribs. Stephen and Matthew would climb into my arms and rest their heads on my shoulders, Matthew on my right and Stephen on my left, and I'd wrap my arms around them and sing.