Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories - The Tiny Family Get a Dog

Starting point is 00:00:00 Get Sleepy is a production of Slumber Studios and is made possible thanks to the generous support of our sponsors and premium members. If you'd like to listen ad-free and access weekly bonus episodes, extra long stories and our entire back catalogue, you can try out premium free for 7 days by following the link in the episode notes. Now, a quick word from our sponsors. Hey friends, it's Tom. Did you know one in every three adults aren't getting adequate sleep these days? But we want to be part of a positive change to that trend, and the same goes for another great podcast I want to tell you about. It's called Sleep Meditation for Women. Every night, my friend Katie guides you into deep relaxation with her soothing voice,

Starting point is 00:00:53 accompanied by calming background music. You'll find every kind of meditation you could need to help relax your body and clear your mind, so you can get the deep rest you deserve. Just search Sleep Meditation for Women on your favorite podcast player to enjoy even more good rest. Welcome to Get Sleepy, where we listen, we relax, and we get sleepy. I'm your host Thomas. Thanks so much for joining us at the start of a new week and a new month. But don't worry, there are no April Fools in store tonight.

Starting point is 00:01:45 We really are returning to one of the most popular mini-series we've had on the show. We'll revisit a family unlike any other, The Pockets. Unbeknownst to the humans that they share a house with, this tiny family resides in a doll's house in the living room. We'll observe the pockets as they go about their morning and we'll meet the family's most recent addition, a tiny sausage dog named Hercules. It was written by Joe and will of course be read by Simon. If you haven't heard the first two adventures with this family yet, you can still listen along and enjoy tonight's story, but feel free to go back and listen to them another time, they were released on March 27th and 29th of last year.

Starting point is 00:02:52 So, before we meet this charming little family once again, let's take a few minutes to relax and unwind. Find a position that feels comfortable and close your eyes as soon as you're ready. Now, let's try a short gratitude feet, your toes and your ankles for all they do to carry you through the wild. Then let the gratitude spread upwards through the legs and into the thighs. Thank your stomach, chest, and shoulders for all that they do to help And say thank you to your heart that beats within your chest. You may even feel it against your palm right now. Allow the gratitude to spread to the muscles of your back. Then give thanks to your arms and your hands and fingers. They help you complete a number of tasks and it's good to acknowledge that.

Starting point is 00:05:30 Lastly, come up to your neck and head, allowing gratitude to fill you completely. completely. Send thanks to the eyes, ears, and going out. It keeps us alive and thriving without any instruction. It's the background magic to our daily lives. Now, hopefully you're feeling relaxed and ready to begin tonight's tale. and ready to begin tonight's tale. So I'll make way for Simon as we rejoin the lovable Pocket family. This is where our story begins. The The terracotta walls of the living room are covered with artwork. The pictures were placed there by Miss Granger, who moved into the building over a year ago. A kind and gentle woman in her mid-30s, she's been a breath of fresh air in the two-bedroom semi. So too has her lovely daughter, a girl of six, almost seven.

Starting point is 00:07:53 The youngster is responsible for much of the artwork, colorful paintings she did at school. Of course, the Grangers aren't the only ones who live there, though mother and daughter both think that they are. They share the house with a family of tiny people who live happily behind the living room sofa. The Pocket family are tiny indeed, none are much taller than your average pin. Before the Grangers moved in, they lived in a tissue box, which was hidden away at the back of a cupboard.

Starting point is 00:08:36 Since then, their circumstances have greatly improved and they've relocated to the young girl's dollhouse behind the sofa. It's three floors high and it even has a lift. To the pockets it's a mansion. The pockets could be happy anywhere, whether sleeping in a matchbox or a crevice in the sofa, but the dollhouse is a dream come true.

Starting point is 00:09:06 The interior decor is like a country cottage. Wooden beams line every ceiling, and many of the walls display floral patterns, matching the upholstery of the chairs and sofas. Ma and Pa sleep in the master bedroom on the uppermost floor. There's a large double bed with magnolia sheets, a match for the curtains and the room's floral border. The children's rooms are just across the hallway. Matilda's is purple and Joe's is mostly blue. Joe's zigzag bedding is untidy as usual and there's an imprint in the fabric where someone has been sleeping.

Starting point is 00:09:58 It's a favorite spot of their new pet Hercules, a ray of sunshine in the form of a sausage dog. He scampered into their lives just a few weeks ago when Pa and Joe found him wandering through the kitchen. Quickly, he won the hearts of all the Pocket family, being a sweet-natured animal. He's gentle and loving. Matilda named him Hercules after the famous Greek hero known for his strength and many adventures. It's a funny name for such a small creature.

Starting point is 00:10:40 Hercules is the size of the end of a matchstick. He's currently sprawled out in one of his favorite spots, in front of the fireplace in the dollhouse living room. Just nearby are the pocket family, seated for breakfast around an upturned bottle top. Covering it is a tablecloth of white tissue paper with crockery and cutlery shaped from tinfoil. The pockets live off crumbs from the Granger's kitchen table,

Starting point is 00:11:16 which is more than enough to satisfy their appetites. A single piece of cereal would take up the whole table, and a droplet of milk would last the family a week. Today, the children drink freshly squeezed orange juice, while the adults enjoy cups of strong, milky coffee, and they munch on pieces of buttery croissant. Joe and Pa spread jam onto theirs. The nearby fire provides the soundtrack to breakfast.

Starting point is 00:11:53 It crackles and pops like a real log fire with bright orange flames that are reflected across the dog's chestnut coat. In between bites, the family make light conversation, mostly discussing their plans for the day. The children are home-schooled, their parents being the teachers, and they follow a curriculum that is broad and varied. Today's lessons start with maths, followed by woodwork and orienteering. Lessons begin before the humans are awake, as soon as the sun rises.

Starting point is 00:12:33 When breakfast is over and the family are satisfied, Ma and Pa clear the table, then head down to the kitchen to tidy up. Pa sings ditties as he cleans. Meanwhile, Jo and Matilda are sent to make their beds, to change out of their pyjamas and brush their teeth. They do this using human toothpaste. It's white and minty and streaked with colour. The pockets make supply runs maybe three times a week, gathering useful items that the humans would never miss.

Starting point is 00:13:16 Nothing of the Granger's ever goes to waste, whether food scraps from the table or globs of toothpaste in the bathroom. Things got even better when the Pockets moved into the dollhouse, because now they have access to their very own vehicle. They can drive about in their glamorous pink doll car and transport supplies back to the mansion. For now though, the pockets have all that they need and Pa is ready to begin his maths lesson. This takes place in the dollhouse living room

Starting point is 00:13:56 where the breakfast table now becomes a classroom desk. Pa likes to begin with a little mental maths, testing the children on their multiplication tables. These quick-fire questions get the brain warmed up, like stretches before a workout. To Joe and Matilda it feels like a game, and they delight in the challenge of outdoing each other's scores. Yesterday it was Joe who got the most correct answers, but today it's his sister who reigns victorious. The children have class books made by their mother. The covers have been decorated with scraps of wrapping

Starting point is 00:14:45 paper and they use tiny pencils that they made themselves under careful instruction in woodwork class. Joe and Matilda open their books to their most recent work where the pages are filled with neatly drawn pictures. They've been working on 3D shapes, learning to label their names and features. Today, Parr explains, they're going to apply what they've learned and go about the dollhouse on a shape spotting mission. They need to find 3D shapes in real world objects, making notes in their books as they move about the house. The children decide to work on this project together. Four eyes, after all, are better than two. They'll also be joined by Hercules, as the little dog can't bear to miss out on adventure.

Starting point is 00:15:49 And so the children explore the dollhouse, scanning each room for 3D shapes. The cupboards in the bedroom, they realize, are cuboids, and the bedside tables are cubes. On Joe's bedside table is a tiny globe. Both children agree that it's shaped like a sphere. So too is the colorful beach ball that they find at the back of Matilda's wardrobe. Hercules proves to be a great shape detective,

Starting point is 00:16:25 leading the children to the downstairs bathroom. He sits and barks outside a closed cupboard. Inside, the children find batteries shaped like cylinders. For this, the dog receives a lot of love and appreciation. He's patted and stroked and called a very good boy. He wears a proud expression, delighted to please his owners as the group move to the kitchen. There, they find a cupboard filled with cone-shaped party hats and in the fridge they

Starting point is 00:17:09 note a wedge of prism-shaped cheese. Hercules finds a speck of leftover croissant. It's no shape in particular but it's a yummy second breakfast. Meanwhile, Pa stays seated at the table, listening to a channel on the dollhouse radio. This miniature device sits on the mantle above the fireplace and it plays real stations. The volume is so low that it's inaudible to humans, but just the right level for tiny ears to hear. It's accompanied by the crackle and pop of the fireplace, so it sounds like a record being spun on a deck. Ma soon appears with refills of coffee and takes a seat beside her husband. Her favorite soap is beginning on the radio. Pa loves it too, though he often pretends not to. She's brought some knitting, a blanket that she's working on.

Starting point is 00:18:22 Ma loves to knit as she listens to her stories. Her knitting needles are plant stems, cut, dried, and varnished, and her material is cotton thread, off cuts from the humans. When the children have finished exploring the house, they return to the living room and show Pa their work. They've successfully matched each shape to an object, all except the 3D pyramid.

Starting point is 00:18:56 Pa is pleased with the children's work. They've tried their best and worked as a team. Perhaps they'll spot a pyramid when they next leave the dollhouse in their orienteering lesson, which is right after woodwork. First, the children need to work on their walking poles, an essential tool for getting around the house. These repurposed toothpicks are a few years old and they're in need of maintenance and tender loving care. Pa demonstrates how to sand down the poles

Starting point is 00:19:36 so that the surface is free of pesky splinters. He carves the base and sharpens the end point. That way, the pole will stick nicely in the ground. The children mimic their father's actions, and he swirls with pride as he watches them work. They use scraps of sandpaper to smooth down the poles, one of many things they collected when the Grangers were redecorating.

Starting point is 00:20:07 Then they used the ends of nail files to sharpen their poles. It's slow work, but actually quite relaxing. Joe likes the sweeping sound of the file on the toothpick, while Matilda enjoys the texture of the smoothened wood. The final step is to polish the walking pole, dipping a piece of dust cloth into golden gooey wax. This is rubbed carefully into the surface of the wood. It's massaged in using circular movements. Soon the poles appear completely transformed. Mar pauses knitting to admire their handiwork,

Starting point is 00:20:54 and her smile grows wider when she looks over to Par. He's upgraded her walking pole and placed a ribbon around the top. The family will get to try out their poles in the very next lesson, orienteering. In this class, the children practice navigating the house, keeping each other safe and avoiding getting lost. To a human, this concept might seem somewhat laughable. Imagine getting lost in a two-bedroomed house. But what may seem average or even small to many

Starting point is 00:21:36 humans is monumentally larger through the eyes of the pockets. Moving through the house requires equipment. Alongside their poles, the pockets each have a backpack. Inside are essentials like ropes for climbing. They're made from safety pins and picture hooks tied to string. Pa volunteers to walk with Hercules, so that the children can focus on leading the way. Their challenge is to navigate to the kitchen table through the living room and the hallway.

Starting point is 00:22:17 The family leave the dollhouse with Joe and Matilda out in front. They walk gracefully past the flashy pink car, striding with their poles like expert hikers. They know how to walk around the brown leather sofa, which is so massive from their perspective that it blocks out the view. They turn left and left again, curving around its base until more of the room comes into view.

Starting point is 00:22:51 Now they see the flat-screen TV, a gigantic cinema screen to their eyes. It hangs on the wall opposite the sofa, in front of the Granger's Walnut coffee table. The plan is to climb up onto the coffee table. It's the quickest way to cross the living room. Joe goes first, swinging his rope like a lasso and throwing it hook first up towards the table. and throwing it hook first up towards the table. He feels the picture hook catch and slowly begins to climb up the rope. He arrives, minutes later, on top of the table and retrieves the hook from an indentation in its surface. The rest of the family then follow his lead,

Starting point is 00:23:44 Pa going last and accompanied by the dog. Hercules sits happily in a handmade dog carrier worn on Pa's chest like a front pack for a baby. Pa pats the dog's head when they arrive at the top. He's such a good boy and so well behaved. Then, Parr follows the family, who walk diagonally across the table. On their way, they pass the Granger's fish tank. It's an aquarium full of colorful creatures, twisted driftwood, and exotic plant life. Matilda points out that the tank is a cuboid, remembering her shapes from this morning's lesson. Joe scans the tank for his favorite fish,

Starting point is 00:24:38 a ruby-red beauty that he calls Rose. Instead, he catches sight of an unfamiliar ornament, a miniature replica of one of the pyramids of Egypt. The family pause to observe this monument. Its bronze surface is etched to look like brickwork. It's the last 3D shape that they had left to find, and more marvelous than they could ever have imagined. Better still is that the ornament is hollow, with doors visible at the front and back. Rose, the fish, swims through it, her tail fluttering like a flower petal

Starting point is 00:25:28 in the breeze. Hercules grins in his carrier. He loves to watch the fish swim by. Eventually the family are ready to move on and amble once again towards the corner of the table. Now it's Matilda's time to go first. So she throws her rope towards the bottom of the doorway. The first time she misses, but the second time she gets it. The hook catches securely near the bottom of the door frame. With the rope angled towards the ground, The hook catches securely near the bottom of the door frame. With the rope angled towards the ground, Matilda lifts her pole above her head. She then uses it as a makeshift zip wire, gliding towards the ground.

Starting point is 00:26:18 Matilda feels as if she's flying. She sails through the air above the floorboards and arrives at the doorway happy and gleeful. Pa is the last to join the family and the others watch his journey from the glossy floorboards. They laugh at the sight of Hercules in the front pack, gaping as he looks all around. Back on the ground, he's brought out of his carrier and put on a lead to walk beside Pa. He wags his tail and trots along the floor, sniffing happily at everything in his path. Soon, the family are out of the living room and onto the carpet of the Granger's front hallway.

Starting point is 00:27:07 They walk among fibers as tall as they are in a cream-colored jungle of lovely soft carpet. All are grateful for their newly improved poles, their invaluable tools for crossing such terrain. Joe leads, passing the stairs and turning left around a corner. From there, the route is straight on towards the kitchen. It's now visible in the distance and each step reveals more of the kitchen floor. In places it's lit by sunlight from the windows, giving it the appearance of a sun-soaked beach,

Starting point is 00:27:55 the golden surface twinkling. It's a dazzling view for the family to walk towards and a useful marker to guide the way. Soon the pockets are on the kitchen floor and the family pause to bask in the sunshine. Ma and Pa hug their children, proud of how they navigated the way like expert guides. It's now that they hear familiar sounds. The Grangers are moving in the bedrooms upstairs. That's the signal that it's lunchtime for the Pockets and time that they were moving to a place out of sight.

Starting point is 00:28:43 Ma and the children begin moving towards the skirting board to the crack in the wall where they usually eat. But today Pa has other ideas and leads them instead to a space beneath the cabinet. Matilda suspects that a surprise is waiting and though Pa tries to hide it, his gleeful expression gives him away. It soon becomes clear that he's been secretly busy, transforming the area beneath the kitchen

Starting point is 00:29:18 cabinet. He explains to the family that just a few days ago he'd been out wandering when the humans came home. He hid beneath the cabinet as the girl sat at the table. She was working on a project, sticking objects to a collage. Pa fell asleep while he was waiting and woke hours later when the humans were gone. They left behind a treasure trove of brightly colored items, feathers, felt, silk, and sequins. One by one Parr dragged the items beneath the cabinet, determined to create a whole

Starting point is 00:30:03 new room. And this is the end result. The floor is dotted with stunning felt rugs in every color of the rainbow. They feel luxurious underfoot. Hercules is already sniffing at one and rubbing his snout into the felt fabric. To the right of the room is a turquoise feather, a soft new sofa, large enough to seat the entire family. Cream-colored silk is folded beside it, a deluxe blanket should they ever get cold.

Starting point is 00:30:47 Nearby is a sequin, pink and glossy. It's the perfect dining table. And around it are high back chairs made from pipe cleaners. The family gaze at the room. And after a moment of silence, they turn to power. What a wonderful secret for him to be hiding! This will surely become their regular lunch spot.

Starting point is 00:31:18 The room itself is only part of the surprise. The other part is lunch, already on the table. It's the remnants of the human's dinner when they treated themselves to take-away pizza. Hercules is very partial to sliced pepperoni, and cold pizza is a family favorite. There's barely a tenth of a slice of pizza but it's more than enough to fill everyone's plate. The family sit down around their

Starting point is 00:31:55 new pink table, its surface so shiny that they can see their reflections. They sink into the fabric of their wonderful new chairs, the cotton of the pipe cleaners as soft as velvet. The pockets hear the humans in the kitchen. Mom and daughter are sitting down to breakfast. If only they knew of the merry group beneath them making happy conversation between mouthfuls of pizza. Once the plates are empty, Joe and Matilda clear up, before playing a game of The Floor is Lava.

Starting point is 00:32:38 They attempt to cross the room without touching the ground, stepping across the felt rugs, which are arranged like stepping stones. When the game is over, they head to the sofa, joining Ma and Pa on the turquoise feather. They sit in between their parents, as comfy as can be. Ma unfolds the silk blanket and passes its end over to Pa. Between them they stretch it right across until the entire family is under the silk. Joe says he's never felt anything like the feather.

Starting point is 00:33:24 It's the loveliest thing that he's ever sat down on. Ma and Matilda both gush about the blanket, while Pa is content to just sit and smile. The family will stay here relaxing on the sofa until they hear the sound of the humans going out. That will be the sign to start afternoon lessons. Today that's English, followed by crafts and cookery.

Starting point is 00:33:58 For now though, they're content to enjoy their surroundings, to talk and laugh beneath the silk blanket. Soon they're joined by Hercules, who is apparently as fond of silk as they are. He clambers up with his short little legs and takes a seat in the middle of the blanket. He finds a spot next to Joe and Matilda lying between their legs with his paws outstretched. He's asleep within minutes, turned over on his back with his comically large ears flopping out. Whether it's the sight of this snoozing canine

Starting point is 00:34:43 or an after effect of their morning exertions, the family begin to feel tired and a series of yawns fans out across the sofa. The feather curves with their bodies, supporting their tiny frames from head to toe while the silk blanket is warm and cozy and sends waves of comfort rippling across them. The family begin to nod off one after another,

Starting point is 00:35:17 and soon they're all napping. The pockets and their dog curled up beside them. I'm going to go ahead and start the video. You You You You You You The You You I'm going to go ahead and start the video. You You You You You You The I'm going to go ahead and start the video. You You you

Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories - The Tiny Family Get a Dog

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