TRAPPED: IN THE NIGHT GARDEN

Dear Mummy,

Every night, the anticipation for it to start is unbearable, and we notice this applies not only to us, but for you and Daddy as well.

The nervous excitement grows as the sun begins to set. On one of those rare organised days, with bellies full and pyjama's on, we pace the room, eagerly waiting for it to begin. Suddenly our favourite owl and his funny friend in his pyjama's fade to black and there he is ... our beloved strange little blue creature, riding in a tiny sailboat, heading towards the Night Garden.

OMG Mummy! It's 'Igglepiggle'! Screaming like crazed groupies, we gather two centimetres from the television with our breath showing up in quick successive pants on the flat screen.  You never fail to shuffle us back towards the middle of the room or to our chairs, so we can take in the entire garden scene. Very smart thinking Mummy.  

"Oo Oo Oo!" Will it be the 'Ninky Nonk' or the 'Pinky Ponk' that arrives to take our bizarre little friends on their wacky adventures tonight?  Oodles of noise, bright flashing lights and mesmerising tunes envelope us as we're drawn deeper into the enchanting night garden.  We can't wait to catch up with the tubby 'Makka Pakka' and clap along to his adorable little chant, "Makka Pakka akka wakka mikka makka moo!".  We're a little concerned that he has a slight case of obsessive compulsive disorder when it comes to cleaning though, as he's always polishing rocks and uses his sponge to scour the faces of his friends. Eager to join in with 'Upsy Daisy' as she dances around, we also wonder why she repeats her own name constantly.  We giggle when the 'Tombliboos' pants slide down and love when they rock out with a loud jam session, playing their musical instruments, in their egg-shaped hedge house.  We can always rely on there being ten squeaking 'Pontipines' living in a tiny house and sleeping in minuscule beds and four massive 'Haahoos' bouncing languidly around, somewhere in the garden.
Our favourite character, by far, is the loveable, yet insecure 'Igglepiggle' with his comforting red blanket.  He's funny because he's blue and he keeps toppling over whenever he gets surprised.  Wouldn't it be great Mummy, if we could all live in the Night Garden?  What a magical place.

However, Mummy, we discern that you and Daddy exchange a look of fear and avidly groan every night, about this same time, and mutter to yourselves, something about 'cruel and unusual punishment'. We're not sure what this means, but every time we point something out to you and shout gibberish at the creatures roaming the garden, it stops your eyes from rolling around and helps you both to focus.  Returning cheesy grins, you nod your heads and clap your hands frantically, so we figure you must think, like us, that it's the best show in the whole wide world.  We don't understand why you don't watch all of it though.  Whenever the random birds commence their high pitched squawking or the 'Tombliboos' start banging on their drums and smashing the piano with their fat fingers, making a cachophony of sound, we look to involve you in our noise driven, frenzied dance, but for some weird reason, you've made a quick escape and are nowhere to be found.

We heard you say to Daddy that you "didn't think it through very well" when you bought us the whole series of "In The Night Garden".  On the contrary, we think you must have put a lot of thought into it.  Buying us the DVD means we don't have to wait until it goes dark anymore to view it.  It's such a bonding experience and now we get to watch this 'cruel and unusual punishment' with you all the time. Thanks Mummy!


Love Ollie and Linc xoxo