Pleiades Bee

Every night, after pjs, nursing, bedtime story and poem, we put Sophie in her crib, tell her we love her, kiss her goodnight, turn on a CD and turn off the light. She has a couple CDs we use at bedtime but the one she listens to the most—the one she’s listened to probably 100 times or more—is the one shown above. We like it, too. The quiet lullabies are sung by some of our favorites, including Alison Krauss, Barenaked Ladies, Keb’ Mo’ and Lucinda Williams.

But last night, something strange happened. Sophie woke up not just crying, but screaming—three times. Although she’s typically a good nighttime sleeper she will wake up, crying. But not like this. So we changed her. Nursed her. Sang to her. Swayed with her. Changed her pjs. Even took her temperature. Every time she woke up it took a long time to calm her. And then, I realized something. Every time we were in her room, cradling her, calming her, the last song on the CD was playing—”Good Night” by Linda Ronstadt. Meaning, the song before last—”Over the Rainbow” by Eva Cassidy—was playing all three times she woke up screaming. Coincidence or does she no longer like “Over the Rainbow”? Or Eva Cassidy? I hope not.

Upon realizing this we switched CDs. She then slept through the night.

“I really like to create the sound of a choir the most. If you could see what the sound of it looks like when I shut my eyes and listen, you’d see the sound as angels spanning across the universe.” —Eva Cassidy