Recently, Auggie has taken a shine to bedtime stories. Not the kind that you read from convenient books over and over and over again — my God! We get it! You do not like green eggs and ham! Jeez! — but the kind you make up in your head. From scratch.
Of course, since Auggie is obsessed with all things Thomas the Tank Engine (the boy reads the catalog like it’s a toddler Bible), the stories all revolve around Thomas and his friends. Since I’m the one who often ends up as storyteller (tell me why that is again, hon?), the burden falls upon me to make up said stories.
It’s been pretty easy up until this point. Thomas comes to visit Auggie at Auggie’s house, Auggie goes to visit Thomas on Sodor, Thomas and his friends experience various adventures on Sodor, etc. And usually there is a snack and a nap (since these are bedtime stories, you see).
Lately, though, I feel like I’m in a story rut. James the red engine is always in danger of losing his shiny red paint, but then he reconsiders and ends up getting a splendid new coat of paint. Thomas and Auggie always play in the backyard and then have a snack. Diesel 10 decides that he is tired of not having any friends because he’s mean and decides to be nice from now on (Auggie’s favorite).
So the stories have to be fairly simple, not too scary as Auggie is easily scared these days (just wait till I get around to telling the tale of The Bug Man and how I scarred my son for life — later), and generally boring as anything so as not to get him too excited before he’s supposed to drift off to Snxx-ville. Maybe I should start trying to work in characters from other cartoons that Auggie likes. But really, what would Blue the dog and Thomas the Tank Engine have to talk about? I’ve already started working in guest spots for people like Grandma Libby (you make cookies for Thomas and Auggie when Thomas visits), Mommy and Daddy, of course, and the dogs.
These are the things that they don’t write about in parenting books.
Oh, and Tim says that storyteller is my role because I was an English major. Yet another reason to get a business degree, I suppose.