Home >> in the light of the moon…
November 27, 2007
I think all of Eric Carle’s books start out in the warm sun or the light of the moon, two things that Nathan loves to sign. Generally those books work magic on him when I’m trying to calm him down…especially in the middle of the night or at bedtime when he just can’t seem to relax. I have his favorites memorized, so even when I don’t have the book in hand, I can rattle off the familiar words to get his attention away from his misery. We spent half the day last Friday in the emergency room because we thought Nathan had pneumonia. As we shifted from room to room, he was desperate to get loose and explore. But of course we couldn’t go roaming the halls of the ER, so, I had to hold him tight for about 3 hours and entertain him. We watched a little college football which held his attention for a while, paced the various waiting rooms, and I made up several addendums to The Very Hungry Caterpillar, like how after he became a butterfly, he flew into the sky and looked down on Nathan’s little world, mentioning the flowers, bees, trees etc…
Well, for the past several nights Nathan has still had trouble breathing and has been waking up inconsolably screaming. I rock him, hold him while pacing his room, get him some water, play music, and recite Eric Carle stories (which usually works), trying everything to get him to stop screaming. Last night nothing was working, so I brought him downstairs, gave him some Tylenol and we sat in the dark on the floor of the back porch. Then I saw it…the light of the moon! There were these cool blue shadows that only a full or nearly full moon can make. At first I couldn’t locate the moon, but then I saw it framed perfectly in the skylight above our heads. I put Nathan on my lap and told him to look up at the moon. In an instant, he stopped crying, his eyes got wide and he pointed up making the sign of the moon. For a while, he kept looking back and forth at me then the moon with a big smile and saying a little “ahh.” A magic moment. Finally he was getting sleepy and snuggly. We went peacefully back upstairs to sleep.
The magic of the moon with the Eric Carle connection did the trick! Now if only I can stay awake by the light of the sun to d0 everything that needs to be done today…