Songs you know by heart

My mom's accused me on more than one occasion of winding Mark up before bed. Although I'd like to deny it, it's true.

I don't mean to rile him up. We start out very calmly, reading bedtime stories together on my bed. It's my very favorite time of day, our cuddle time. Mark looks so cute and innocent, all into his Calvin & Hobbes stories. But sooner or later, something triggers my silly button, and we toss sweet tranquility out the window.

Last night was just such a night. We read about poor Calvin, paper-thin, having morphed into a two-dimensional character. He was blowing aimlessly in the breeze.

"You know who he looks like?" Mark asked.

"Yup," I answered, and then burst into my favorite Flat Stanley song. (Yes, there really is such a thing -- we saw a musical about Flat Stanley, and the best thing about it was this song, which drives Mark insane because it gets stuck in his head and he can't get it out.)

"Where in the world would you go to
If you could really go to
Anywhere in the world!"

But rather than smile or applaud, my under-appreciative audience wailed in protest, "No, Mom, DON'T!"

Which of course translated to "Sing it again!" in my head. So I did.

I was cracking up, really enjoying myself, when the little rat pulled out the big guns.

"Mini sirloin burgers..." he sang, and I immediately rolled away, hands plastered to my ears.

"No!" I screamed. "Not that song! You know I can't get that song out of my head once I hear it!"

To which he smiled and repeated, "Mini sirloin burgers -- HA!"

It was like fingernails scratching on the blackboard. I could already hear the soundtrack in my head, stuck on an infinite loop, and knew I'd spend the rest of my night humming about mini sirloin burgers (against my will).

"Where in the world would you go to --" I started.

"Mini sirloin bur -- " he sang back.

"If you could really go to..."

"-- gers -- HA!"

"OK, OK, truce!" I pleaded. He smiled triumphantly, and curled back into the pillows.

He started back on the story, "And then Calvin said --"

"Anywhere in the world!" I whispered.

And was promptly smacked in the head with a pillow.

So much for providing a calm, relaxing wind-down time before bed at my house.