Lately, Bears favorite bedtime book is Love You Forever. If you've never heard of it, it's basically the story of a crazy mom who continues to sneak into her sleeping son's bedroom at night, pick him up, rock him and sing to him well into his adulthood. I'm assuming that it's not meant to be taken literally and the point is that the mother will always love her child with the same fierceness that she did when he was a baby. Here's the song:
I'll love you forever
I'll like you for always
As long as I'm living
My baby you'll be
Towards the end of the story, she tries to sing the song to her son but she's too old and sick, so instead, he picks her up, rocks her, and sings the song, substituting "mommy" for "baby." Then goes home to his new baby daughter and starts the singing/rocking tradition over with her. We've read it at least 30 times now but my voice still gets suspiciously husky toward the end. I think it was Ryan's mom who got it for Bears when he was first born but I can't remember for sure. It's really a good one though. I highly recommend it.
The best part is that as I'm tucking him in to go to sleep, Bears likes me to sing the song again to him...except that I have to say "big boy" instead of baby. He's very insistent that he is the big boy and bitty Biscuits is the baby. After I'm done, he puts his hand gently on my arm and sings the song back to me with "mommy" at the final line. Blast it but it's a doozy. Mostly because the song itself is a nostalgic reminder of how fleeting and precious these moments are. I feel so very lucky that I get to be the mommy of this wonderful, troublesome, loving, and rambunctious cub.
That's THE sweetest bedtime routine ever...it's so good you're recording and cherishing all the preciousness. When Bears gets to be a teenager (if he's typical) you might need to refer back to this to remember all the sweetness of his heart. He really is a very special, and so's his mommy.
ReplyDeleteWhat a sweet story. I haven't read that one. I can barely manage to get through bear of my heart without tearing up, and this one sounds even more intense. Bear of my heart has the same message, "no matter how big you may grow dear, or whether we're near or apart, I will love you for ever and ever, for you are the bear of my heart".
ReplyDeleteThat's so sweet that he sings the song back to you. Yes, I would say those last 4 words describe him pretty well. :)
This story would make me cry every time. So true that moments with those sweet little ones are fleeting, and oh so precious.
ReplyDeleteI think I just died from reading this. Died. Cause of death: cuteness overload. Bears is just the bestest. (But Dom is the bestestest, just to be clear.)
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