Last night, around 2:30 am, I wake up to small whimpering at my bedside. I roll over to find Anna there inches from my face!
"Anna, why are you out of bed?"
"I woked up mommy."
"You need to go back to bed, okay?"
"Mommy, I scared. I had a dream."
"It's okay Anna, there's nothing to be afraid of. You'll be okay."
"Mommy, will you carry me back to bed?"
"Okay, let's go."
So, I put her back in bed after she decided she needed to go potty first, and then crawled back in bed, hoping to fall asleep quickly! Morning comes all too soon at our house! Only minutes pass by when I hear a blood-curdling scream! My heart literally jumped into my throat, as I jumped out of bed to hear Anna screaming at the top of her lungs,
"Ahhhhhhh, MOMMY, MOMMY, Ahhhhhhhhhh, MOMMY, MOMMY!!"
Shaking, I open her door, and she practically jumps into my arms from her top bunk! She was so scared her whole body was shaking! I tried to calm her down when I noticed Carter was awake. Honestly, I think she woke up everyone in our apartment complex! I put Carter back down in bed and then took Anna out and shut the door. Anna kept saying to me,
"Mommy, I want to sleep with you, okay....can I sleep with you please?"
"Anna, why are you so scared?"
"Mommy, I sawed bugs in my bed! I sawed them, they was crawling all over!" Just for your information, Anna has a terrible fear of bugs and creepy crawly things!
I took her to my room, and was putting a pillow and blanket on the floor for her to sleep on, since our bed is only a full and it is a bit crowded with just me and Russ in it, when I could feel and see Anna on the verge of freaking out again! She was staring at the wall, and with a shaking arm, pointed at the wall above my pillow and said with a shaky voice,
"Mommy....look.....bugs!"
I have no idea what she was seeing, but can only guess that her eyes were playing tricks on her in the dark and when she looked at the wall, it must have looked like things were moving around on it. I have NEVER seen Anna so scared in all her life! She rarely gets scared! So Russ told her to hop in our bed, which she did ever so quickly, and Russ and I both wrapped our arms around her little body! She didn't fall asleep for another hour, tossing and turning, and she kept looking around the room like she was watching for more "bugs"! She finally went to sleep around four in the morning!!
During breakfast, I talked to her about it, and had to explain that there were no bugs in her room. She wouldn't go in her room without me, and she would not even go near her bed! I climbed up and inspected it all and told her there was nothing there. I talked with her about what her imagination can do and how our eyes do not work very well at night, so sometimes we see things that are not really there. All that she was seeing was probably shadows. That seemed to ease her fears a lot. I am afraid, though, that she is going to have a hard time going to bed tonight. I might have to leave the door open and the hall light on, or I think we might encounter another screaming child during the night again!!!
I definitely do not miss those days when I was little and my imagination went wild at night and scared me more often than not! Any ideas as to how you calmed your child's nightmares/fears at night???
A Beautiful Sunset
2 years ago
3 comments:
all I can say is every child is different. Caleb knows that if he wakes up scared or something then it is just his head telling him he need to go to the bathroom. But Hailey, need to be cuddled and soothed before she can get back in bed.
I hope that you can get this "bug" thing figured out. No one like bugs in the bed! Maybe she should get a special bug blanket, or spay her blanket with special bug repellent (just water of course) that will keep the bugs away. that might help for a little while. anything is worth a try.
And no Chloe is not potty trained yet, I think I am going to wait until after the baby is born to even think about it. though she is very interested now.
I remember one night waking up, sure that someone was going to come through my window and stab me with a knife. My bunk-bed was right by the window and I must have been dreaming something crazy. I went in to tell Rob and I think he mumbled something like "you're crazy, no one will stab you. Go back to bed!" I was terrified and was so scared I went back in to Rob's room and he finally let me sleep with him. It was really uncomfortable, that I remember. But I wasn't scared of that ever happening again, probably just a nightmare. I had lots of night terrors in those days and they seem to run in the family. It was my dad's job to get us to come out of the trance. He would always take me to the bathroom, get me a cold drink of water and sometimes take me for walks outside. You might want to ask him about it sometime. He'd probably have lots of good advice. He's got to be a professional by now after all of us. Just don't give coke and aspirin together ever. That can cause lots of problems with dreams and such. Just ask Rob about his crazy experience.
I try asking Cash if he wants to say a prayer to help him remember that he's never alone and that Heavenly Father and Jesus are watching over him and protecting him while he sleeps. Granted this doesn't always work but he usually enjoys saying an extra prayer and I think it gives him some comfort. Hope that fright goes away soon. Poor Anna.
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