Bedtime stories

Tonight when I started to sing The Bear Went Over the Mountain to Malcolm in bed, he stopped me to say that he "never gone over a mountain in a long time." I told him that we could go to the woods this weekend and hike over a mountain. Then he said "and maybe see turtles, and trees, and maybe (in a whispered voice of excitement) BUTTERFLIES!"

Soon after, he told me he was a baby polar bear in a den, snuggled up against Mama polar bear's warm fur. He said he was going out for a walk but he'd be back (at this point I realized it sounded like the story in a library book we read a few weeks ago). I heard how he was "followed by the moon" and saw walruses, whales, and seals. When I told him that I wasn't worried, I knew he'd come back to Mama, he said "Yes, the walruses are friendly, the whales are friendly, the seals are friendly." (In his mind these would be reasons Mama would have had to worry that he might not come back).

Later, "Malcolm likes whales a lot." I told him that I think they like him a lot too, and he suggested we "invite the whale to dinner tomorrow."