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May 22, 2006
Robbie the Robot
I can't recall if I've mentioned the Robbie stories. About a year ago Jeff started telling Ethan bedtime stories about Robbie the robot. For a long time this was a regular part of the bedtime routine. Now it's only occasional, since now we've cut out naps Ethan falls asleep much more quickly.
The stories always start the same way: "Once upon a time there was a little house, and inside the house lived a little boy. His name was Ethan Paul Tingey Hopper. [Jeff draws on Ethan's back during this whole intro.] Ethan had a very special friend named Robbie the Robot. Robbie had a square head, a little neck, a square body, two squiggly arms, two big feet, two little hands, an antenna - boink! - and a little orange button that when you pressed it, he could do amazing things."
Then Ethan wakes up. While he's asleep, Robbie's been building sandcastles, because Robbie doesn't need to sleep. Various adventures happen, ranging from adventurous (Robbie and Ethan discover a slide down into the middle of the earth, where they discover dinosaurs) to biblical (it rains for so long that Ethan's house becomes a boat, and they have to save all the animals) to... whatever. Sometimes the story involves Bob the Builder or Thomas. Often there are cousins from Katamari Damacy who come help. Sometimes the core issue is something like a bird that lost his voice, and Ethan and Robbie have to help find it. There are also some mice living in Ethan's house - Mickey Mouse, Mousie Mouse, and Linna Mouse. Last week they were trying to find their old house, which was on Sesame Street. That kind of thing. Ethan sometimes gets quite insistent about how the story should go.
One funny thing about these stories is that although they're supposed to help Ethan fall asleep - and they mostly do help - he at least stays awake through the whole thing. But I always drift off near the beginning, so I miss the whole thing. It's funny because in general, I often have a hard time falling asleep. Unfortunately, I often wake up when it's over, so I have to get myself back to sleep again.
Posted by ktingey at May 22, 2006 12:30 PM