Lullaby

My four-year-old asked me to sing him a lullaby before bed tonight.

“Which one do you want me to sing?” I asked.

He proceeded to sing a little lullaby of his own composition. The tune—in a minor key because my kids both prefer minor keys like their mama—was a little meandering, but lyrics followed a pretty decent pattern. And the words he chose really showed me both his fears and his comforts.

He sang it to me once in the kitchen, and I had him sing it to me one more time after he climbed into bed, then I sang it to him.

It goes like this:

Sleep, sleep, sleep
Don’t be afraid of the dark.
Your mom and dad are everywhere,
All around you.
So, sleep, sleep, sleep,
Tucked in your comfortable,
Warm, warm, warm, warm
Bed.

As he listened to his words and tune come from my mouth his face showed pride and surprise and joy.

Today—heck, the past several weeks have been a challenge with him. He’s so negative and fearful and angry sometimes. He argues and cries for something, then when he gets it doesn’t want it anymore and argues and cries for something else. He’s not been acting like the born-happy son that I know, and I’ve been a little worried, even though I reassure myself, “This is what four looks like.”

But for this sweet little moment, the worry just melted away. I hugged him and kissed him goodnight, and he smiled at me as I shut his bedroom door.