The Magic of the Little House

We first discovered Virginia Lee Burton's books when i found Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel. It was an instant hit in our house and Bode was quick to notice the pictures on the back of the book of her other books. Doug pointed to the picture of her book The Little House and said he remembered reading that when he was a boy. We checked out Katy and the Big Snow and Maybelle the Cable Car from our library. But i couldn't find The Little House.

When we drove to Missouri in January, I downloaded a bunch of audiobooks from iTunes and one of them was The Little House. What a wonderfully sweet little story! Tells of the seasons and the growth of cities and transportation. It was my favorite of the many i downloaded and the boys liked it, too.

Recently, some of Bode's behavioral problems (mainly transitions, he's either overly sensitive or under-sensitive to touch and moodswings) have reared their ugly head. I have not been good about getting his OT programs done since i've been so sick with this pregnancy and i've seen again how they really hold him up and help him so much. It's a little disheartening to see that he still needs fairly intense therapy, but i also know that it won't take much to get him back on track (and i'm feeling much better and can focus on my kids again! Hallelujah! I'm still mildly nauseated but i'm not vomiting and i can eat and drink). One thing that has also happened, and i'm not sure if i can blame it on the lack of support from his programs, is that he is once again getting out of his bed once or twice a night. He hasn't done this in the year since we started the programs. It used to be a horrible, more than twice a night, occurrence.

So, i'd been asking him, What can we do to help you stay in your bed at night? And he'd say he didn't know or that he was scared or that it was too dark (even with his closet light on and a nightlight). The other night he said, I think if we get The Little House (the actual book) I'll be able to stay in my bed. I told him, YOU'RE ON!

The next morning, we headed to Borders (with my 25% off coupon that i forgot to use) and found a lovely unabridged version on the shelf. He was so cute walking around the store and out to the car with it in his hands. We popped in the audiobook and he looked at the book as it was read to him. It.was. great. I love how much he LOVES books. He commented on the illustrations and pointed out fun details.

That night we read it at bedtime. Both boys can say the words if i start a paragraph and have them finish. I need to get it on video--so cute when Keegen does it. Anyway. We read it and i put it back on the shelf. I tucked Bode in and he said, I need the book closer to my bed. So i asked him if he wanted it on his nightstand or on the floor by his bed. He wanted it next to him. I offered to tuck it under his pillow, a solution that satisfied him. I gave him and kiss and walked out and wondered if he'd stay in bed.

And HE DID. For two nights in a row. Tonight i left to run errands and Doug said they had a moment of panic when they thought they'd left the book in the van, but Bode had brought it in and remembered where it was. So i'm crossing my fingers for a third night in a row.

Funny little solution! I just hope that if he has issues that need solving as he grows older, he doesn't think he can suggest geting a Playstation DS or a car to solve the problem!