I should never have said that the boys were sound sleepers.
Uttering those two little words – sound sleepers – was an invitation to the Sleep Fairies from the Land of Nod to whip their sleepy-dust filled heads my way and mess with the boys’ slumber. And by the boys’ slumber, I really mean mine. Pierre’s too. Just when we thought it was safe to go back to bed, the Sleep Fairies sneered, “Oh yeah? Sounds sleepers? Watch this!”
Benjamin was up at 1:48 a.m. last night. Or morning. Whatever. It was early – very, very early – and I was sleepy.
“Mommy,” Benjamin crept his way to my side of the bed (why is it always my side?), “I had a bad dream”.
Ugh. Bad dreams stink for all involved. It’s hard to fix a bad dream. I can tuck back in sheets, find a lost lovey or get a heat pillow for growing pains, but there is no quick fix for a nightmare. There is nothing I can do to erase the pictures when he closes his eyes again, or get rid of the lingering scared. Yep. Bad dreams really, really stink.
I groggily walked Benjamin back to bed. On the way, he told me that he had been dreaming about a beetle in a tree who was trying to nip him. Naughty beetle. I reassured him that there was no tree, no beetle, and nothing to worry about. Beetles don’t like nipping Bens. Once back in bed, I tucked Lamby under Ben’s arm, pulled the sheets up to his chin, and smoothed the hair back from his brow.
“You know the best thing about bad dreams Ben?” I asked. “They aren’t real.”
Ben nodded his head. I gave him a little kiss, and made my way back to my sheets. No more than two minutes later, Ben was back on my side. The Sleep Fairies yawned and said, not so fast.
“Mommy. I can’t fall back asleep. Every time I close my eyes, the beetle comes back.”
This time, Pierre walked Ben back to him room, gave him Lamby, tucked him back in bed. Guess what happened? The Sleep Fairies were relentless.
“Mommy. There’s a shadow in my room that’s scaring me. It looks like the beetle.”
Back to Ben’s room to move around toys and books until the shadow was gone. I realized, once again, just how much stuff he has. Time to clean!
Unfortunately, Ben still wasn’t convinced that he could fall back asleep, “Mommy. I don’t like beetles. I think they bite.”
“You now Ben, some beetles are really cool,” I said. “There’s even a kind of beetle that helps to clean up the Earth by eating poop.” I know, but it was about 2:30 a.m. and the best that I had.
At this point, I wasn’t sure whether Ben was really still afraid of the beetle, or just awake and looking for a little company. My suspicions were confirmed when he told me, “Mommy, if you stayed in my room, I could probably fall asleep.”
Um, not happening kid. The Sleep Fairies fell off their toadstools from laughing.
“Sorry Ben. You sleep in your room, and I sleep in mine. And now, it’s time to close your eyes and go back to bed.”
Pierre and I listened to Ben whimper for the next ten minutes or so until all was quiet. The Sleep Fairies took pity on a pair of tired parents, and let our child fall back to (beetle-less) sleep.
Thank you Sleep Fairies.
xo Naomi
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