Of Monsters and Boys

Little man and I have developed a new bedtime routine: after all the bedtime stories are read, we turn out the lights and he snuggles into my arms while saying his prayers and then just generally falling asleep. We started out with me snuggling "for five minutes" (invariably it lasted longer than that) and then somehow he extended it to "ten minutes". Sometimes he falls asleep in my arms, sometimes he doesn't, but at least he's quieted down enough that it doesn't take him long to doze off after I've left the room.

Tonight was one of the rare nights when we actually laid in bed and talked for a little while. Sometimes I ask him what he did in school. Usually reticent, he tends to open up more while snuggling comfortably and just relaxing.

Anyway. Fast forward to tonight. We got to talking about monsters and such. Here's how the conversation went:

(T = Todd, M = Mommy)

T: When you're here, I'm not afraid.
M: Aww, what are you afraid of?
T: Monsters.
M: Don't worry, no monsters here. Mommy and Daddy close the doors and windows, so they can't come in.
T: Where do monsters live?
M: Um... where do you think they live? (Haha! Clever way to get around "I don't know"!)
T: The bad monsters are in jail.
M: (Inspiration strikes) And the good ones live on Sesame Street!
T: But where to they REALLY live?
M: On Sesame Street!
T: No, that's just on TV. That's pretend. Where do they REALLY live? (C'mon, Mom, how infantile do you think I am!?)

After I while I realized he was thinking of the monsters from "Monsters, Inc"!

M: But those are all good monsters!
T: No, not ALL of them!
M: Well yeah, Randall and Mr. Waternoose were bad, but look what happened-- they went to jail!

Again the conversation turned to Todd's fear that they would visit him here. I tried to allay those fears.

M: Don't worry, they won't come here. Even if they did, they'd just make jokes and do funny things to make you laugh, that's all. They won't scare you. But they aren't coming here anyway.
T: They're not? Why?
M: Because I told them not to. I told them you had to sleep and if you're busy laughing at them then you're not gonna get enough sleep! (I was feeling quite proud of myself, thinking this up on the fly. Until...)
T: But I didn't hear you (tell them)! (So how do I know you really did?)
M: Oh, um, I told them after you were asleep.
T: (Still skeptical) How did you tell them?
M: (Starting to sweat) Um, I e-mailed them!
T: How do you spell it? (Obviously he meant their email address)
M: (Crud!) M-O-N-S-T-E-R

That seemed to satisfy him, thankfully. I swear, I felt like I was under some heated cross-examination by a razor-sharp, eagle-eyed lawyer. That boy misses nothing, and we're VERY hard-pressed to put anything past him! Yes, I still believe he'll be a lawyer when he grows up :-P