Friends in the crib.

As you know, Ben has never been a sleeper.

Since it's staying light so late, I think he has found it harder to fall asleep so he'll lay in his crib talking to his animals - Pooh, Meow, Puppy, Booda, Wormy and sometimes even his sippy. Wow! I didn't realize until now how many animals that kid has. That's a lot. And sometimes when I go in to get him on the weekends, he wants to bring them all out with him and I literally have no room to pick him up by the time he's handed them to me and they are in my arms.

Listing his animals also makes me realize how silly they're named. It's every-day to me so it just seems normal. Ben named his Mickey Mouse "Pooh" when he thought all cartoons were the same and Pooh was the easiest to say. Like most of the names, it stuck. I give Rob's mom, Pam, complete credit for naming Booda. To be honest, we though it was a little strange she would name a stuffed bear after the creator of Buddhism, but who are we to judge? After all, it was her bear. Even though Wormy is a singing, glowing sea horse, he's named after his more popular counterpart, the glow worm.

At night, after Ben is out of the tub and sitting on the toilet being towel dried, his friends put on a show for him. He yells, "Daaaaddddy," and a friend appears in the doorway, usually doing stunts and climbing up the side of the door. When one disappears, then another reappears. Ben giggles and giggles trying to guess which one will be next. After their show they go to bed and wait for Ben to do the same.

I imagine him in the crib at night doing a show of his own. The other night he talked and sang for almost 45 minutes. I had to mute the TV several times so I could listen to his beautiful voice. One time I even had to turn the TV up because the singing got so loud. After a minute or two of his opera I heard silence and then clapping. I pictured him in his crib bowing for his audience of five. They're a supportive group.