Tuesday, January 06, 2009

King Sized Nightmares

My six year old daughter was standing at my bed side. She was whimpering that she'd had a bad dream. I sleepily raised my head from the pillow and glanced at the clock. The number three was all I could make out. The rest was irrelevant because I had just been up a little over an hour earlier feeding her baby sister. Two hours before that, somehow Tyler had made his way into our bedroom. When this happened I do not know. He has learned to sneak up on his father's side of the bed and worm his way into the middle without waking me because I carry him back to his bed when this happens. Yes, we have a King sized bed. But, you put one child into this equation and it equals mom on the edge of one side, dad on the edge of another and child turned sideways in the middle. Sometimes I am lucky enough to get the "head" end, but most of the time I get the mule kicking "leg" end.

I kicked the covers down and threw my legs over the edge of the bed careful not to move the bassinet that contained the previously fed four month old sister mentioned above. Shelby wanted to chatter about her dream. I just put my finger over my mouth and motioned her back toward her room. I walked her to her bedroom. As I tucked her in she told me that she had a bad dream. I told her that it was okay and I would tuck her in and she could go back to sleep. She said that she wanted to sleep with me and I informed her that she was a big girl and she needed to sleep in her own bed. I kissed her forehead and made my way back into my bedroom.

I contemplated taking Tyler back to his bed at this time, but I realized that if I did he'd probably start screaming and I'd have two children awake with no doubt that Emily would follow suit. I laid back down after turning Tyler straight in the bed. It wasn't long after when Shelby came back into my bedroom and said that she could not sleep in her bed because she was scared. Her dream catcher was not doing it's job. She threw her bad dream to it and it fell back down on her!

For those of you unfamilliar with a dream catcher, it is traditionally a Native American made craft designed to hang above a child's bed to catch nightmares. Shelby informed me that tonight when we get home that we have to clean it out. We must take it from her ceiling and shake it off outside so that the bad dreams that it has collected will be gone. It is too full to collect any more nightmares. Well, that's that...I will be spending my evening cleaning cob webs from the corners and bad dreams out of dream catchers. How about you? What will you be doing this evening?! Hopefully tonight will mean more sleep, even if it means dreaming of something such as work or even Ferrari parts.

14 comments, add yours here:

Akelamalu said...

Hopefully when you give the dreamcatcher a good shaking it will do it's job again and you will have a peaceful night tonight. :)

Richard Lawry said...

It is amazing how much room a small child can take up in a bed. I am so thankful to get to spend time with my grand-daughters, but I am also thankful that it is not full time. There is a reason that "young" people have children. Us "old" people just can't get by with the amount of sleep you do.

An Arkie's Musings

Anonymous said...

What a precious story! I know it wasn't so precious at 3 in the morning... but years from now, you'll see.

I wish I had had a dream catcher when I was a little girl. And we were never, but never allowed into our parent's room, which was always locked. Will you be my Mommy?

Maggie Moo said...

Poor little thing. I've had dreams like that before. I hope her dreamcatcher works now. :)

Amazing Gracie said...

The dreams I had last night would qualify as nightmares! Almost as weird as some of Mo's!
I remember being scared to death at her age. I think a "Dream Catcher" is a really good thing.
You're such a good mommy!
~~~Blessings~~~
p.s. Give her a smooch for me and tell her I'm thinking about her and wish for only good dreams!

katherine. said...

actually...that is a rather intelligent and creative way for her to explain why she is having "bad" dreams when she has a dream catcher hanging right there.

its a fun story...I need to introduce you to my cousin...she has a couple small ones at home and has recently started to blog...

Anonymous said...

We got dream catchers for our boys' rooms. It worked (whether mentally or spiritually we'll never know)

:)

Patois42 said...

Given my son's recent revelation that "somebody" (AKA a ghost) had been sitting on his bed talking to him, I'll take a nightmare any day. But not on top of mule boy and baby nearby. Hope the emptying of the dream catcher helps.

Anonymous said...

All of the kiddos have one.We decided to invest in one for each when we ran into nightmares-they make earrings too...does she have her ears pierced?That might be an idea-you could say something like they catch all the bad dreams during the day- before they even reach the night time.

My son is now convinced our house is haunted too.

Sandra Carvalho said...

Oh my...Poor little girl...Bad dreams sucks Shelby! ;)
I love the dreamcatcher thing!I knew what it was I just didn't know how it works!Well, now I do!Thanks! ;)
I think I'll have to buy one for my kids as well...
Hope you guys have a better night.
xoxo

storyteller said...

I have a BIG dreamcatcher in my bedroom ... hand made by Navajo hands. I love how you've used this with your children and the idea of shaking out the old nightmares is wonderful. I hope you all get a good night's sleep.
Hugs and blessings,

Desert Songbird said...

I had a disturbing dream myself last night, so I can understand Shelby's anxiety. I don't usually remember my dreams, but this one really bugged me.

Twisted Cinderella said...

I hope that the shaking out works and you get a better nights sleep tonight.

Misty DawnS said...

Children can be so thoughtful and clever! I sure hope you got that dream catcher cleaned out. I love dream catchers by the way.