Snakes in my bed . . .

We have entered a new phase with Sophia . . . she has bad dreams. Grant has never struggled with bad dreams, so this is a new parenting challenge for us. It started about a week ago when she woke up several nights in a row crying hard. On those nights we were able to console her with a few minutes of snuggling and a song or two.

The bad dreams hit a whole new level last night. At about 12:30 am Sophia woke up screaming. I carried her to the living room and sat with her. Sophia told me that her foot was "yucky" because it had a snake on it. After a few minutes of talking I convinced her that she did not in fact have a snake on her foot. I was relieved and ready to put her back in bed.

The relief was short lived . . . for the next five hours she was convinced that there were snakes in her bed. Yes, five hours. Between 12:30 am and 5:30 am we tried everything to get Sophia back to sleep: laying down with her, rocking her, letting her cry in her crib, offering to sleep with her on the couch or in the bunk bed, . . . we tried it all out of desperation for sleep. Sophia and I would examine her bed thoroughly to make sure there were no snakes. She would lay down and possibly even drift off to sleep. It would not be long however until the snakes of her dreams would return and she would start screaming again. At about 5:30 she collapsed out of sheer exhaustion.

In the light of day with a semi-clear mind, I feel sorry for her. After all, I wouldn't want to sleep with snakes in my bed either. I really do understand what if feels like to be afraid, even if the thing causing fear is completely irrational. In the middle of the night when your mind is foggy and you know that your day will start at the same time and carry on with the usual challenges whether you've gotten any sleep or not, compassion, understanding, and sympathy run out quicker than than they do during the day.

Here's to hoping we are able to rid Sophia's bed of snakes before bedtime tonight . . .