Night Monsters

It's 1 am. Time for me to head to bed. But, first, I must check on the children. It's my nightly routine, the final check, so I can sleep peacefully, and so can they.

I creep into the boy's room, check the temp, check the covers, are they still breathing? Yes. Ooops, someone didn't make it to the potty in time, remove the wet clothing from the carpet, check the likely culprit--yup, commando, find clean pants, wrestle them on the sleeping one, step on a toy, oh nooo, it was the bug toy, antenna now stuck in the carpet, disentangle curved wire antenna from the carpet using the light from the cell phone. Check room temp, check the covers, still breathing, yes, tuck in the favorite toy and creep out.

Then my daughter's room, creep in quietly in the dark, ooops! floorboard creaked, stand still, hold my breath, then creep forward quietly, now breathing heavier for having held my breath...where's her binky?* Oooh! Drop to the floor and crawl around, feeling across the carpet, sweeping back and forth with my hands in the dark, trying to locate the missing item...I remember that I saw an extra one earlier under the bed, so I flatten myself and slide my arm under the bed, bump my head on the leg of the bed, making rustling noises with the bed linens hanging down off the bed and, success!, I locate the extra binky. And then it hits me...are these nocturnal activities of a mother what starts the imaginings of a night time monster, especially under the bed--the creeping, breathing, slithering, rustling, bump in the nights?

Aaargh! Mothers, we can be blamed for everything!!


Posted by The Editor



*binky, plug, paci, pacifier, nuk, dummy, nummi, noni, knick-knack paddy wack or whatever you call it