Gracelin Green hated to go bed. "Just one more story." she would beg or "Can I please have a glass of water?" One night when Mommy came to tuck Gracelin into bed, Gracelin did not ask for another story or a glass of water or make any of her usual bedtime stalling requests. "I just want to say goodnight, Okay, Mommy?" she asked sweetly.
"Sure," her mother readily agreed. That was the simplest bedtime request Gracelin had ever made. It was going to be an easy night. "Goodnight, baby." she said, and as she said it she was already starting to think about the things she needed to do after she put Gracelin to bed.
"Oh no, Mommy. I'm not ready to say goodnight to you yet." said Gracelin hopping out of bed and heading for the stairs. Mommy followed her down two flights of stairs to the basement which was Gracelin's playroom.
At the bottom of the stairs, Gracelin reached down and picked up a brown stuffed bear off the floor. "Goodnight Bearie." she said. Then, she said goodnight to each individual toy on the floor. When she finished that she took a gray striped fluffy cat out of her toy bin. "Goodnight, Layla." she said. Then, she proceeded to say goodnight to each of the rest of her stuffed animals in the bin - all 50 of them!
"Come on, now it's time for bed." declared Mommy as Gracelin returned the last stuffed animal to the toy bin.
"But mommy, I'm not done saying goodnight." whined Gracelin. She went over to her art desk. "Goodnight desk. Goodnight pencils..." she began and then said goodnight to each of her art supplies in turn.
As soon as she finished before Mommy could say a word, she hurried over to the shelves. "Goodnight Candyland. Goodnight Chutes and ladders .."
Three shelves of toys and games later, Gracelin finally let Mommy usher her upstairs after first saying goodnight to the rug and all the pictures on the wall first. They didn't get very far though. Gracelin stopped on the main level of the house.
In the den, she said goodnight to the TV and all of the furniture. In the kitchen, she said goodnight to the table, the chairs and all of the food. She even went into the laundry room and said goodnight to all of the detergents and cleaning supplies.
By now, Mommy was exsasperated and exhausted. "Can we go upstairs now?" she asked tiredly. Gracelin nodded and Mommy followed her up the stairs, but Gracelin didn't get into bed right away.
She went into the bathroom and said goodnight to the toothbrushes and the cups and everything in the bathroom. Then, she went Mommy's room and said goodnight to Mommy's bed and all her furniture. Next, she said goodnight to all of Mommy's clothes.
When she had finished saying goodnight to every possible thing in every possible room, she finally returned to her own room where she said goodnight to all of her clothes and everything in her room.
"And goodnight bed." she finally finished. "Okay, mommy. I'm ready to go to bed now." she declared. She was actually beginning to get a little sleepy. Saying so many goodnights was very tiring. She lay down in her bed and closed her eyes and waited for her goodnight kiss from Mommy, but no kiss came. "Mommy?" she said, but Mommy didn't answer. She opened one eye, but still didn't see Mommy. She opened the other eye and sat up and looked all around. There was Mommy fast asleep at the foot of Gracelin's bed. "Goodnight, Mommy." whispered Gracelin as she lay down in bed and went to sleep.
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