dsc01441.JPGWell, in our house it is more along the lines of letters and sticks and cameras…oh my! Kaiya is a champion sleeper. We rarely hear a peep out of her from the time she hits the sheets at night until 8:30 or 9:00 the next morning. However, the other night around 3:00 am, I was jolted out of a deep sleep by the loudest shrieks, screams and cries I've ever heard. It took me a moment in my sleepy-eyed state to figure out that it was Kaiya making all the racket and not Tobi. As I ran into her room, I was expecting to find that she had fallen out of the bed or something worse, but instead found her sitting up in bed screaming, "My letters are falling! My letters are falling!"

Once my heart stopped racing and I had assessed the situation, I assured Kaiya that her letters were indeed still on her wall and NOT falling. I reminded her that Papa had worked hard to hang those letters so they would be safe and not fall. I told her that it was still night-night time and she needed to go back to sleep. Still a little shaken, she reluctantly complied and curled up with her lovies. I covered her back up, kissed her and bid her a good night. I crawled back into my own bed a little annoyed at how awake I was, but glad the situation was resolved. Not even two minutes had passed when the frantic screams started again and in between cries I heard, "They are falling! My letters are falling!"

Once again I trudged back across the hallway into Kaiya's room, however this time not quite as compassionate. I told her to stop screaming and flipped on her lamp so she could see that her letters were not in her bed but on the wall as they should be. She rubbed her eyes and stared at the letters in disbelief. I'm not sure why I didn't have more compassion for her because I myself have very vivid nightmares and have needed comfort and reassurance from Andrej many nights before I could fall back to sleep. Blame it on the hour or that I wanted nothing more than to be asleep at that moment, but I told her if she didn't go back to sleep I would take the letters down and they would be all gone. Not one of my finer parenting moments, however I did open her closet door to shed a little light into the room as a night light before switching off the lamp and going back to bed.

By this point Kaiya was wide awake, and with the closet light on in her room she was ready to play. We listened to her talk and play for a little while before Andrej headed across the hall. Without knowing what I had told her, he removed the letters from her wall, kindly asked her to be quiet and go back to sleep and closed the closet door so her room was dark once again. He barely got out of the room before the howling began again. We agreed that her talking in bed was preferred to the howling, so Andrej returned to open the closet door once again. When he entered she told him that there were sticks in her bed. She has had only one other bad dream/nightmare, which was months ago, and it involved sticks in her bed "sticking her". We both thought it was strange that she remembered that and brought it up again.

Andrej pulled back her covers, checked out her bed and assured her there were no sticks in her bed. She then told him that the camera was getting into her bed. By this point even Andrej was losing his patience and told her that nothing was falling or getting into her bed and to go to sleep! He left her, with the closet light on, still whining about the camera getting into her bed.

dsc01444.JPGSoon her whines turned back into chatter and Andrej was able to fall asleep. I listened to her carry on for at least another hour. Finally around 5:00 am, after two very LONG hours, Kaiya was silent and I too went back to sleep.

Needless to say the next day, both Andrej and I were dragging, but not Kaiya. Oh no, she was well rested because she slept in the next morning until 10:00 am! Since then she has requested her closet light on every night and talks about her letters falling, the fan falling, the camera getting her and sticks in her bed, but thankfully hasn't had anymore bad dreams about them since. Oh the imagination of a two year old! We are currently in the market for a night light to add to her room because I have a feeling that her nights of sleeping in the dark are over and it probably won't be long before her fears move from wall hangings to lions or tigers or bears…oh my!