My very own Scheherazade

Every night at bedtime, Jonathan and/or I read Xander two stories.  Then it's time to hop into bed, pull the covers up, and go to sleep.  But lately, instead of reading stories, Xander has been asking Jonathan to tell them.  The most brilliant Arabian Nights has commenced.

The first night was an "origins" night: Xander wanted a story about Gerlal, the pink dragon, and Norbert, the baby dragon in his egg.  Did you know that Gerlal was one of 12 eggs, all in different colors of the rainbow, but she was the only pink egg?  And it was so scary, she got left behind when her Mommy and all her brothers and sisters fled because it turns out their dragon cave was in a volcano!  Luckily all worked out in the end, because the person who rescued Gerlal knew that she was meant for a little boy, and brought her to this big room with lots of stuffed animals so that she could look for her Xander.

The next night was Norbert, who had an equally compelling story - I forget the beginning, but he ended up being rescued by a man riding a donkey-pulled cart.  They drove all the way to a land called Florida, where Norbert was sitting with some of his other dragon friends when he was spotted by a Bubby, who knew immediately that Norbert in his egg was the perfect little dragon for her grandson.
We also learned about Bee (who's bigger than Ari): she was so big that she was kicked out the beehive because she was eating all the honey, but was so happy when she found her way to Xander, too.

A couple nights after that was the story of Smog, the mean dragon from The Hobbit.  Next was Hubert the Dragon and the Noble Knight.  Hubert is a very nice green dragon with shiny scales who was sleeping minding his own business when he woke up being poked by a knight.  The knight was very scared when Hubert opened his mouth, because he thought Hubert was going to eat him, but then Hubert explained that actually he prefers a good pasta, not people, for lunch, and that he wasn't going to harm any of the villagers around him, so could the Knight please stop poking him with that little sword because it was getting annoying.  The Noble Knight apologized for poking him, explaining that he hadn't realized that Hubert was a nice dragon, and that of course they could be friends from now on.  So off they flew, through clouds of butterflies and lightening storms and all kinds of things, having adventures and breathing fire whenever possible.

My personal favorite (and I think Xander's too) are the stories of Teddy and Dog.  Teddy is a very smart little boy whose parents happen (amazing, that) to work at NASA, where they build rockets.  And (what do you know) Dog is a curious dog who always gets Teddy into trouble.  A few nights ago Dog was chasing a stick around Daddy's and Mommy's workplace when he ran outside right into a rocket.  And when Teddy went after him, Dog jumped all around, pressed a button accidentally, and started the launch sequence!  Teddy and Dog had to strap themselves into the seats very quickly (Teddy was all strapped in when Dog barked and so Teddy had to unbuckle his own seat belt, buckle Dog, and then go back)... and bedtime.  The next night they re-strapped themselves and the rocket took off with them in it!  (At this point Xander made the cutest rocket launch noises ever).  They went all the way past the birds, past the clouds, into space, were floating and having space adventures, then.... bedtime.

The next night, Teddy's Daddy and Mommy talked to them on the intercom and helped them land. Jonathan listed numbers one by one as the ignition sequence (8-5-2-6 etc) and his cell phone served as the rocket computer.  Xander, as Teddy, punched each number into the keypad, and the phone was set to speaker so each number gave a satisfying beep!.  Teddy and Dog came back down to earth, the parachute opened, the door popped off when the landed, and Teddy's Daddy and Mommy were the first among the cheering masses to give him and Dog big hugs.  They all decided to go home for lunch, but then right at naptime Dog darted past the open door and went into the garage, where Teddy's Daddy had been fixing the car.  Would you believe he had been adding buttons to that car to make it go super-fast?  And of course Dog pressed one and OY! smoke came out of the exhaust and that car shot straight out, through the garage!  "Where did it go?"  Xander asked, but ahhh... bedtime.

This has been going on for over a week now, and Xander knows that if he wants to hear the end of the story tomorrow night, he has to be still and quiet and get a good night's sleep tonight.

For the past week he's gone to bed with nary a complaint, and has slept straight through til 7am.