Bed-Time Ballet

Last night, after we watched The Nutcracker, Daniel transitioned to bed in a way I had never seen before.  Daniel loves nutcracker soldiers, and owns three of them, all over a foot long, like Clara's original.  After prayers and icon-kissing, just at tucking-in time, he grabbed one of his nutcrackers - the most ballet-caliber of them, with the classic soldier's uniform, sword in hand.  He wound it up, and set it on the table close to his bed, and then sat on the bed and watched it go.  It played the Nutcracker Suite, and, in time to the music, moved its two arms back and forth, almost like cross-country skiing.

There were a few very moving things about this impromptu ritual.  One is simply that Daniel is normally a bit wild and spontaneous, and likes boy things, soldierly or sporty, but at this moment, it was like he was setting up his own little mini-ballet to watch.  Another was the way that he just tuned into it, sitting on his bed, much the way a small child shakes up the snow-globe and becomes enchanted with it.  No commentary, just quiet winding-and-watching.  It was like a gentle little impulse had just came over him, and he followed it, without introduction or explanation.

The soldier did his dance until the winding played itself out, and then Daniel got up again and re-wound it, returning to his bed to watch the performance.  This happened for a few times, but I was getting concerned about him getting to sleep, so I quietly turned on the night-light, which was between his bed and the "stage," and turned off the main bedroom light.  This gave the soldier's dance more of a soft glow, only to accentuate the nocturnal quiet of it and its central focus.  Daniel continued to get up perhaps a couple times more, to re-wind the nutcracker after it played itself out, returning to bed each time to watch the show.

Finally, after one run, he paused.  I offered to re-wind it for him, figuring he needed to get into a more passive mode to transition to sleep.  But he said no, it was probably time to go to sleep.  So he got up, turned off the night-light itself, lay down in bed, and went right to sleep.

(December 29, 2012)