Listen for the Noises

This past weekend was the Harvest Moon, and it was really something to see here in Minnesota which was blessed with unseasonably warm days and nights, and clear skies.  After reading stories to Joe before bed on Sunday night, Julie asked Joe if he wanted to go outside and see it and was taken aback by Joe's reaction which was what you might expect if he'd just been asked if he wanted to sleep outside by himself with the squirrels.  Needless to say, we did not go moon viewing.

That same night, and every night since, Joe has requested that the door to the bambini's room be left open a crack after he has been tucked in for the night.  Julie spent much of her childhood spectacularly afraid of the dark and even today, will sleep with nearly every interior--and exterior--light on any night when Ted is away from home.  So, she both recognizes, and respects the fear.

She also remembers one thing that helped her when she was a child: listening to all the noises that the grown-ups who were still awake made in other rooms whose light spilled into her bedroom--her dad letting out the dog, her mom reading in bed, her grandparents watching Johnny Carson and Carol Burnett in their La-Z-Boys.  With any luck, she'd fall asleep before the grown-ups turned out the lights and turned in, too.

So last night, she told Joe that she had a secret to tell him, and then told him to listen for all the noises after Mommy and Daddy had left the room--and left the door open a big crack.  This morning, she asked Joe if he'd listened for the noises, and if it had helped.  He said he had, and it did, and Fans, it's tough to say who felt more proud, Joe or Julie.