Guided Imagining

I've started a new bedtime ritual with Isaac. We do guided imagery as a relaxation/head into bedtime activity, which he calls "picture story in my head." Last night Alison was at book club and I was putting both kids to bed, and Isaac requested a picture story (Aaron, of course, immediately said "me too!"). So, close your eyes (?) and imagine along...

You wake up and get out of bed, then you walk outside into the backyard. When you get outside, you see a big black cat. It's a nice cat, so you aren't afraid. The cat talks to you and says, "do you want to go for a ride?"

"I'm too big to ride!" you say, but the cat reassures you that he can use his magic cat breath to make you smaller. He puts his nose on your nose and breathes, and you feel yourself shrinking until you are just the right size to ride on a cat.

You hold on tight and the cat jumps over the fence and starts to run down the road. He runs and runs, over grass and on the sidewalk, until you arrive at a hole in the side of a hill. The cat runs into the hole with you on its back. You aren't afraid because there are lights in the hole and you know the cat will protect you. He runs through a long tunnel with lots of twists and turns, and after a long time you enter a big room made all of rock. In the middle of the room is a small, quiet pool of water. You get down from the cat and approach the pool.

When you get to the pool, you see a small fish swimming inside. He comes to the surface and says, "I'm a magical fish. I'll grant you three wishes: a wish for a food, a wish for a toy and a wish for something to wear."

[Isaac said he wanted pizza, a Halloween spider and a shirt with a lion on it.

Aaron wished for cereal, a spider and jammies.]

You get back on the cat and he takes you back through all the tunnels, up the street, and back into the backyard. You come into the house, and that's The End.

***

I'm not sure what has possessed my boys to want spiders, but you get the idea. It's a lot of fun for the kids and it helps them calm themselves down.

So, what would you wish for? I think I'd want more pizza from the new pizza place we just tried, a combination scroll saw/table saw/belt sander/workbench/miter saw/drum sander, and a nice comfortable pair of shorts.