Fearless No More

Little lady is spooked. We're not sure how it happened exactly, or what caused it. But her fearless approach to life has gone by the wayside.

Previously a heavy 12-hours-a-night kind of kid, she's now awake (and crying) multiple times at night. She won't let us leave the room if she's awake - we're back to the rocking her sleep that happened right after her arrival. It's a different kind of cry too - terrified, desperate and not fake. That might be the worst part of it all.

She's verbal enough to give us hints, but they are just fragments: "It's too dark..." "Bad guys..." "Mean guys..." "Monsters..." One night she actually articulated a dream where a big frog was trying to eat me (Mommy).

It's not just a nighttime thing, either. She has become skittish with company, loud noises, and things that previously didn't phase her. In any swimming pool she's timid and hangs out on the first step, where last year I had to keep her from diving in headfirst to the deep end.

For now, we're indulging her requests. We're rocking, cuddling, comforting and reassuring. At some point we'll try to help her transition back to her former fearless self, but right now feels like the wrong time.

Seems like when Daniel turned two, his imagination took off too - and his nightmares began. So we'll do the same thing we did with him - take a lot of the movies off the playlist, watch out for the kind of pretend games that happen in the house (Daniel now knows to avoid saying "bad guys" and instead runs from imaginary "pickles"... hilarious).

I'm sure it's a stage. I hope it's a stage. Don't get me wrong... the extra cuddle time and "needing of Mommy" is great... but I miss my little tiger.