Bad dreams
Emmett had a couple of bad dreams last night. He has them occasionally, and sometimes falls back asleep before he even really wakes up once I get there to rub his back.
Last night was different because he remembered the dreams, and was coherent enough to tell me about them. Both featured some circumstance where he didn't know where I was.* In the first, we were at a construction site and he couldn't find me. I took the chance to introduce the "replay the dream but make it happy" method of chasing nightmares away. We talked about being at a construction site together, and having one of the workers show us the cool equipment.
So far so good, but an hour later, he was upset again. This time, he'd gotten to the bottom of some stairs and didn't know where I was. I told him I was probably right behind him, and asked where we were going together. Quickly, though, I realized that we needed to switch his brain off of these "mom's gone" scenarios and onto something happier or I'd be up every hour. So we talked about Disneyland, riding the carousel, Dumbo, Teacups, and the Tiki Room. After the Tiki Room, Emmett decided to go see the parade. That's when I left, and he slept soundly the rest of the night.
* These dreams are probably my fault, as yesterday we read a story about a girl who was briefly lost. I took the chance to reinforce with him that if he ever can't find me, he should find a mom (woman) and tell her that he's lost so she can help him find me.
Last night was different because he remembered the dreams, and was coherent enough to tell me about them. Both featured some circumstance where he didn't know where I was.* In the first, we were at a construction site and he couldn't find me. I took the chance to introduce the "replay the dream but make it happy" method of chasing nightmares away. We talked about being at a construction site together, and having one of the workers show us the cool equipment.
So far so good, but an hour later, he was upset again. This time, he'd gotten to the bottom of some stairs and didn't know where I was. I told him I was probably right behind him, and asked where we were going together. Quickly, though, I realized that we needed to switch his brain off of these "mom's gone" scenarios and onto something happier or I'd be up every hour. So we talked about Disneyland, riding the carousel, Dumbo, Teacups, and the Tiki Room. After the Tiki Room, Emmett decided to go see the parade. That's when I left, and he slept soundly the rest of the night.
* These dreams are probably my fault, as yesterday we read a story about a girl who was briefly lost. I took the chance to reinforce with him that if he ever can't find me, he should find a mom (woman) and tell her that he's lost so she can help him find me.
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