Monsters!

In addition to the battle of the mud in the backyard (which is still ongoing!) we have had another not so great thing happen in our new house....Aidan is convinced there are monsters in his room. I never knew a child could get themselves so scared! He started out having nightmares and night terrors. From there, he has progressively gotten petrified of going to bed, for naps or at nighttime. He is up often 6 or more times in the middle of the night, either because of a nightmare or because he wakes up, and then is afraid to go back to sleep. One night while Dail was out of town, he ran across the house at 2 AM and came flying into my room, jumped in my bed, and scooted to the bottom of the bed under the covers, literally shaking, saying the monsters were following him. It is very sad. And, now that it has been going on for about a month, it is completely exhausting. I think that I probably am the crabbiest Mom and wife I've ever been because I am SO desperately sleep deprived. It is Mother's Day, and I feel like a horrible Mother. I have no patience left for anything. So, I'm going to give you a top ten list of things people have told me to try - none of which have worked and the one that did that I'm not willing to repeat...

1) Relaxation techniques (ie. the whole breathing exercises, concentrating on tensing then relaxing different parts of your body)....NOPE, didn't work.

2) Relaxing music (with no words, something HE chooses, something soothing)....NOPE, didn't work.

3) Magic sword to protect him from the monsters...NOPE!

4) Sleep with a favorite superhero, ie Spiderman, who can protect him....NOPE!

5) Sleep with his brother....Sigh, NOPE!

6) Switch beds with his brother (so he sleeps on the top bunk instead of the bottom)....NOPE!

7) Make sure the time leading up to bed is quiet time, read books, do calm things...NOT THIS ONE EITHER.

8) Holy salt...sprinkled around the house and his room....NOPE!

9) Get him a dream catcher and tell him the story of it....poor Ronnie made one for him and everything and NOPE, didn't work! In fact, he says he's scared of it now too!

10) Tell him that each night he sleeps through the night and doesn't wake Mommy and Daddy up he gets a sticker, and after 7 he gets ANY toy he wants from the toy store....NOT SO MUCH.

11) Give him Nyquil or Benadryl....OH YES this one worked...but what a HORRIBLE MOM I felt like when it did, and I certainly can't do that very often!

So, if you are reading this and have an idea not previously mentioned, I'm taking any and all. Perhaps the winning idea will be entered for a grand prize!! I'm not above bribery! And I think I feel the drool rolling out of my mouth at the moment because I'm actually falling asleep at the darn computer! ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ