Noel has recently entered a new "phase" (and so help me, it better be a short phase) where he is scared all of the time. Sometimes, he likes to use it as an excuse, as in "Noel, come brush your teeth." "I can't, I'm too scared." But legitimately, he is scared of the dark and has trouble going to sleep at night because of it.
I blame myself. I have a hyper-active imagination. A couple of times a week while Amy and I sitting and watching TV, or laying in bed reading, my mind is running through what would happen if the house was attacked by Zombies (you have to head north so the Zombies freeze) or what I would do if I heard someone break through our sliding glass door (That one I am not sure...I am better off with the zombies.) When I was a kid I was TERRIFIED of the dark. One time, my sister Lori hid inside my closet and waited until I was in bed to slowly creak it open and yell "I have no idea!" in an odd voice. (I have no idea why she said "I have no idea" but imagine laying in your bed at night and your closet door slowly squeaks open. It doesn't matter what the person says. It is scary.) I convinced my dad to put a dimmer switch on the lights in my bedroom and I would turn it about 1/16 of a turn before I went to bed. I was afraid of the dark until I was ....well, let's be honest, I am still a little bit afraid of the dark. So I am sure that Noel is just following in my footsteps (why do my kids inherit the things I don't like about myself?) But it is going to be the end of me.
Last night, he was up of and on until about 3am. He gets scared, starts crying, and won't stop until one of us goes in to comfort him. We comfort him, and that last about 4 minutes and then he screams again. We are not opposed to letting our kids scream it out when they won't sleep. We have a strict policy of that when our kids are babies. But it gets stickier when Jonah is in the room too and every time Noel screams it wakes him up. Jonah loves his sleep, so you don't feel like you can just let Noel scream all night long. But I am sure every time we go in there we are just reinforcing bad behavior.
Last night as I was walking down the hallway for the 30th time I found myself thinking, "There better really be a monster in there this time so I can kick its butt and we can all get some sleep." But no monsters. Just a scared little boy. And a grouchy tired dad. So what is a parent to do? No, seriously, I am asking for suggestions. Comment away...
