The temperature, which was in the sixties when I opened the doors at breakfast is dropping steadily and the wind is whipping through the trees and howling around the house. We�re expecting a dusting of snow by evening, which is hard to even imagine this morning. Last night�s torrential rains kept us awake with their pounding on the roof and bolts of lightning sending weird shadows skittering up the walls.

The first of the thunderstorms arrived around AJ�s bedtime, and he was nervous about going to sleep. So we sang �Rain, rain Go Away� and �It�s Raining, It�s pouring� and then I sang �My Favorite Things.� I asked him to name some of his favorite things as I was tucking him into bed.

�I like the planets. And I like state capitals too.� (that last one comes from a previous conversation where I told him that when I can�t sleep, I try to list all the state capitals in my head in alphabetical order by state until I doze off).

�Those are good things. I�m not doing state capitals anymore, though. I was getting too fast at them and I wouldn�t fall asleep�

�What are you doing then?�

�Lately I�ve been trying to think of books that start with each letter of the alphabet.�

He thought he�d like to try that too, but instead we ended up naming some of his favorite book characters:

Alice and Arthur
Beezus and Babar
Clifford and Curious George
David (from David Shannon�s No, David!) and Dorothy
Elephi Pelephi, Well-Known Cat, Formerly Kitten (The Cat with the High I.Q.) � last night�s bedtime reading, a favored book from my childhood by Jean Stafford and now, sadly, out of print
Froggie and Flat Stanley
George (of Jules Feiffer�s Bark, George!)
Harry the Dirty Dog, Huckle Cat and Henry Huggins
I (we couldn�t think of an I)
Jenny (the cat from Esther Averill�s books)
Keisha (from The Magic Schoolbus books)
Liz (the lizard, also from The Magic Schoolbus
Madeleine
Noisy Nora (a Richard Scarry mouse) and Nurse Matilda
Owen (from Keven Henkes� book fo the same name)
Pierre (from Maurice Sendak�s The Nutshell Kids
Quimby, Ramona
Ramona Quimby (yes, we cheat)
Sally Brown and Snoopy
Thomas the Tank Engine
Uncle Henry (from the Oz books)
Vera Violet Vinn (the unfortunate violinist in Dr. Seuss� ABCs)
Wendell (from Kevin Henkes� A Weekend with Wendell
X (we couldn�t come up with an X either)
Yolanda (also from Dr. Seuss)
Zizzer-Zazzer Zuzz (we got stuck in Dr. Seuss at the end there).

By the time we finished our list, the storm had quieted.

�Awww. There�s no more thunder!� AJ said, sounding very disappointed.

�Isn�t that good?� I asked. After all, this whole list began because he wasn�t happy about the noise.

�Now I can�t think about my favorite things.�

�You can think about them anyway. Favorite things are always good to think about.�

And so AJ went to sleep with all his literary friends to keep him company.

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