And then...

The only thing more excruciating than listening to my son tell a knock-knock joke is listening to him recount his dreams. Actually both boys do it. Mason with a brief but excited, "Mom I had a big dream." Usually he interjects something else about spiders and we're good to return to our breakfast.

But Cooper, well he's mastered the art of making the retelling of the dream last as long, if not longer, than the actual dream itself. Who knew the unimpressive literary device of, "and then" would have such an impact on my life.

Coop: Mom I had a dream.

Me: Really? Oh I can't wait to hear about it.?

Coop: It was a Wii dream. I was playing Wii and daddy didn't know and then...

Me: (Nod my head look interested.)

Coop: Mom, mom, mom, I was with darth malls and then...

Me: (Nod my head look interested.)

Coop: I could drive my bed and then...

Me: You could drive your bed? What do you mean? Like it was a car?

Coop: No I could drive it in the sky and then...

Me: (Nod my head look interested.)

Coop: I had a dream about our new gym in our state, is that cool?

Me: Absolutely cool.

Coop: And then Mason was in there (looks at Mason as if to say, "remember?") and then...

Me: (Nod my head look interested. Mason also nods his head and then looks at me, too.)

Coop: Mason was blinking his eyes like this (uses his hands to demonstrate) closes and then opens and then closes and then opens...

Me: You know Coop, I get the picture.

Coop: Well I can't remember the next part. But it was a really long dream. Isn't that cool?

Me: Oh my gosh. Yes. Thanks for sharing. Make sure to remember tonights dream. I want to hear all about it tomorrow.

PS -- This is actually a dream Cooper told me about in the car. Because, you know, Wyoming isn't boring enough.

PHOTO NOTE: I feel that I should explain the picture. Cooper sleeping at his grandma's house, on the floor. We made a King-sized bed for them and Coop wedged himself against the pillows and Mason is up there in the corner (hard to see him) on the floor. Weird ducks.