Time for Bed

Sep 2, 2007
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Is it ever? Lately, though, Sammy’s bedtime has been a joy because she now really reads her bedtime book to us, with just minimal help. Usually AC reads her a story or two– whatever the current Sam obsession is– and then the final book is always Mem Fox’s Time for Bed. A couple of months ago, Sam would “read” her own version of the book to us–pointing out the parent and baby animals and telling us what each animal says, or pointing out different visual features.

So for a long time we weren’t reading the actual printed words. Then one week something strange happened. Sammy would grab the book and say “Sammy read it!” but then stare at the pages and look perplexed. Then she’d ask one of us to read it, but as soon as we’d say the first few words, she’d get angry and say “no! Sammy read it!” We had a hunch that she really wanted to read the printed text herself, but was incapable.

Then the next week, she suddenly got it. She started to recite the beginning of each little rhyme about each animal. And when AC prompted her to complete the rhyme, she usually knew the correct word. Pretty soon she’ll know the whole thing by heart. I guess that’s what happens when you read the same book night after night for months on end. I must admit that my eyes no longer glaze over when it’s time for Time for Bed.

A couple of notes about this video clip:

  1. A few pronunciation idiosyncrasies, such as “nake” for “snake,” and “goosah” for “goose.”
  2. Sammy tends to repeat the animal names several more times than the book does.
  3. At “the whole wide world is going to sleep” Sammy signs “sleep” when she says it.
  4. There’s a little red wagon insignia on the back of the book that Sam loves to point out. She also loves to call it “ra wa” (which is her old expression for “red wagon” that her silly parents still use.)
  5. The text of the book is at the end (I may be skirting the fair use rules here, but I’m just too tired to put them in as subtitles. Yes, I should go to bed when Sam does!)