Bedtime 2.0

Recently Jake and James discovered free books on the iPad.  I’m not sure exactly how they chose the two stories they downloaded, but most nights we now listen to strange versions of Goldilocks and The Princess and the Pea.  I say “strange” because they seem to have changed the stories just enough to have avoided copyright infringement.  What throws me off is that Papa Bear’s bed is too hard and Mama Bear’s bed is “too soft and white.”  I do have to say, the stories on the iPad are really cool.  They have embedded puzzles and sounds and my favorite thing in Goldilocks is that if I touch this pot several times it cracks, cracks, cracks and then shatters into pieces.  There’s something quite satisfying about breaking cyber-ceramics.

So back to my story.  These days, the bedtime negotiation consists of limiting the number of “stories on the iPad” in addition to regular books, and the latest addition to Jakey’s negotiation arsenal: “I want you to tell me a story with your mouth.”

This last one is the toughest as every good tale needs a plot, but I also have to be careful of duration as laying down in the bunkbeds is like shooting me with a tranquilizer gun.  This week I’ve told several “princess stories with my mouth.”  A few nights ago I made up a story about Prince William and Princess Kate.  Tonight I exercised a little creative license and made sure Cinderella didn’t marry Prince Charming till after she finished college.

Should I have upped it to grad school?  Nah, you’re probably right… I wouldn’t want to jeopardize the believability of the story.