My Eyes, My Eyes!!

My sweet Sophia has liked to sleep in very dark rooms since she was a tiny baby. At our home, we have always had room darkening curtains in her room. Well, since we have be traveling/semi-homeless this summer, we haven't always been able to get the various rooms where Sophia has slept as dark as she normally likes. In the beginning this translated into late nights where Sophia didn't go down until the sun did (our kids normally go to bed pretty early). Thankfully, over the past few weeks, Sophia has begun to adapt to sleeping in lighter conditions.

A couple of nights ago, we spent the night at Grandma and Grandpa Owens' house. We hung up Sophia's room darkening curtains on one window and rigged a heavy blanket to cover the other. This room was darker than the one Sophia had slept in for the previous several nights, so I anticipated her having a particularly good night of sleep. I happened to be sleeping in the same room as Sophia that night. In the middle of the night I heard Sophia begin to whimper. I attempted to soothe her back to sleep by quietly saying, "Mommy's here, Sophia. Go back to sleep."

More whimpering. Then a wail. Then, "Look at my eyes! Look at my eyes!" I went to the bed where Sophia was sleeping and picked her up. By this time she was really upset. "My eyes, my eyes!!"

"Sophia, what is wrong with your eyes? Do they hurt?"

"I can't see! My eyes aren't working! My eyes aren't working!"

Apparently my baby forgot the joy of sleeping in a really dark room. She woke up, couldn't see anything, and thought she was blind! Poor baby. I pulled back the blinds and let the moonlight shine in. Sophia was very relieved to find that her eyes still worked.