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Poetry

When Eleanor was younger (although not that much younger) I would say good night to her with the old poem:
Good night! Sleep Tight!
Don't let the bedbugs bite!
But if they do, take your shoe,
And beat them till they're black and blue!
She thought it was pretty funny, and Eleanor made up more verses:
Take a pot, and boil them till they're red and hot!
Take your bed and squish them till they're good and dead!

In all those years, she never wanted to know what a bedbug was, or if she really had to be worried about them.

I had been hesitating to say the poem to Amanda. I'm not even sure that I knew why, except that my vague misgivings were confirmed the other night when I told Amanda the poem. "Mom, what's a bedbug? Are they real? Do we have bedbugs? If we did, would we really use our shoe? Can they climb under our sheets? How do you get rid of them?" I answered as best I could---we don't have any, they're real, we'd wash the sheets in really hot water... Bedtime was a bit later that night.

Then tonight, I said the poem again. She piped up, "Nooo, we wouldn't use our shoe! We'd wash the sheets!" I think perhaps I'll find a different way to say goodnight to Amanda...

BTW, our local science museum has a microscope where you can look at live dust mites. Since we have skin, I'm almost 100% sure we have dust mites. But seeing those little guys crawling around on the scrap of sheet made me want to wash our sheets on the sanitary cycle. And take the hottest shower I could manage.

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Anonymous said…
We say that poem too, and make up extra verses (they change nightly and are very silly, so I can't remember any right now). Joe had never heard of the last two lines (but if they do....) before I said them one night.

It is all a bit creepy if you think about it, but perhaps no less so than other stories we tell children.

FNDP
October 12, 2009 at 7:09 AM
D said…
Bedbugs are very creepy! And very real if you live in NYC! There are neighborhood meetings about them in some areas. They are the reason why you never ever buy a cheap mattress here.
February 9, 2010 at 12:42 AM
mathmom said…
Do the more expensive mattresses keep them out? Don't tell Amanda about it when we come to visit =)
February 11, 2010 at 9:40 AM
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