Does this pig look scary to you? Cause it turns out he is keeping my entire family awake at night. Jackson has been getting into our bed at night for quite some time, disrupting our sleep. He really thrashes about in his sleep. So much so that I remember all those restless leg syndrome drug commercials and wonder if he has that. Of course I don't think drugs to help him sleep would be a good idea at all. But I can't imagine it is very restful the way he sleeps. It sure as hell disrupts my sleep. And when I put him back in his bed, he is back in mine sometimes within an hour, sometimes not even ten minutes. David and I have been trying to decide what to do about it. But coming up short.
Tonight when I was laying in Jackson's bed with him reading before bedtime, it occurred to me to simply ask him what he was thinking about when he woke up at night and got into my bed.
He immediately started to tell me that he saw "really scary things" when he opens his eyes. He rambled about spiders on the ceiling. Which is really creepy, because my husband can tell you that is my number one middle of the night hallucination that makes me sit up screaming and flailing my arms to get the spider before it lands on me as it drops from the ceiling. I am sure Jackson has never heard us talk about it. So did I hereditarily pass on my spider hallucination to my son?
And I haven't even gotten to the pig yet. The pig has always sat on his dresser in his room and it played a big part in his 'why he comes to my room at night' story. He kept saying he had to tip-toe past the pig. I kept thinking 'what pig'? What was he talking about. I couldn't think of any pig. But then I scanned the room and there it was. The pig. Staring right at the bed. WTF? Why didn't we notice such a thing and why did he never mention it?
He doesn't act scared when he comes to my room. And when he protests getting back into his bed he never says 'I don't want to go back, I'm scared.' And that is the one thing I have perfect sympathy for, since I spent my childhood running to my dad at night when I had bad dreams - which was all the time.
Jackson then went on to point out his toy truck that I put on the top shelf of his new unit across from his bed. This is a big tow truck from the movie Cars, so it has big ol eyes. He loves this truck, but he says sometimes "Mater" scares him at night. So in the dark the boy wakes up and there is this pig and this truck staring at him. So he comes to my room, but he never mentions being scared.
So sometimes you just gotta ask. Cause I thought if he were scared he would say so and obviously this is not the case. I took Mater down from the shelf and removed the pig and have not heard a peep from him since I turned off the light, which is definitely now how it normally goes at bedtime.
So let's see if he comes as much to my room at night. I don't think it will stop. I can take all the toys with eyes from his room, but the spiders dropping from the ceiling I can do nothing about. If I could I'd have stopped seeing them myself, right?
4 comments:
Marsha are you talking about the cute Collegemoney pig??
it looks so cute...lol
Don;t forget there is money in there, as a matter of fact we have to start putting more in here everytime we are there..
That is supposed to be his collegefund..lolol.
I cannot believe he is scared of that cute pig...
Love,
Susanne
C
You know, it is quite similar in shape to a Furby, and Johanna is TERRIFIED of a Furby my mom has. We finally had to hide it on a bookshelf, behind a ceramic frog. It had been amongst the grandkid toys, but now Mom keeps in its safe spot. Nevertheless, sometimes -- when Johanna remembers that it exists -- we have to go check on it to make sure it's still there and isn't lurking elsewhere. Waiting. To attack. Mwahahaha.
Oma and her evil Furby!! ;)
You never can tell what will set a child off. Sometimes, just showing that you are willing to help by removing the object is enough.
By the time he gets to your room, he has probably forgotten that he was scared.
Brendan used to rhythmically bang his leg while falling asleep, and would frequently crawl out of his bed and go sleep in the laundry basket. I don't know why. Eventually, he stopped.
What a brave boy your Jackson is, never complaining that he was scared! I hope turning Mater and Mr Pig around helps him. Do you know, I am 43 years old and yet I still remember how, from age 3 and 4, the coatrack in my bedroom scared the "bejeebers" out of me! I knew what it was, but at night all alone in my room it took on so many different monstrous shapes. I never told my parents either, just wanted the light on so I could keep an eye on it!
I hope everyone is getting more sleep soon! Take care, Katie
Post a Comment