Scared of the Dark

Shelly's been doing this thing lately, where she stays in her room for about three minutes at bedtime before coming to us and telling us she's afraid. Of course its always something different. David handles this much better than I do, because I always suspect she's trying to manipulate us and just avoid going to bed. He gives her the benefit of the doubt. I just tell her to go back to her room and go to sleep. Sadly for Shelly, Daddy's not home yet and she came to me, with no compassionate person in sight. "I'm afraid." Of what? I say, not even looking at her. (I'm BUSY reading junk on the internet, duh! No time for compassion from me!) "I'm just ah-scared. That something is going to come out of somewhere." (She now puts the "ah" sound in front of random words. Its kinda cute.) Something. Somewhere. She doesn't say monster in her closet, or ghost under her bed, just something. Somewhere. I couldn't help but laugh a little. And then I sent her back to bed.

This little drama then played out over the next half hour, where Archer and I became increasingly frustrated with the noisy little actress who was keeping the rest of the house in an uproar. He offered for her to sleep on the floor in his room, so sweet of him but then she wouldn't be quiet, she wanted to talk to him about how she's still scared. ("I'm about to blow my top," he said to me calmly. I know, I told him, me too.) I sent her back to her room to listen to stories on the CD player but she just sobbed and sobbed until Archer yelled at her to be quiet and then he came to me to confess it. I had her come into my room and lay down on the couch and within minutes she was asleep.

Another lesson learned. Just let her sleep on the couch to begin with and all the other stuff would be avoided. (Only didn't I just give in and let her get her way? What lesson did SHE just learn?) Now I just have to move her. Cause she can't stay there, that's where David sleeps. And so another night of musical beds begins.