A Nightmare

Last night, at exactly 3:22 AM, both girls woke up crying within seconds of each other. Lauren wailed first, so I hopped out of bed and stumbled down the hall to her door. Then, almost immediately, Mia cried out too.

I stood there between the two doors, without a blessed clue what to do. (Hmmm...wake the husband? Ya think?) My mind was so foggy, I couldn't operate past 'girl...crying...fix it...dizzy...crying...baby...' Thankfully, Lauren stopped before my mind could catch up, so I went to Mia.

In her tiniest whisper, she said, "Would you snuggle with me please?" Her eyes were wide open - fearful - and her blankie was clutched to her chin so tight that I couldn't have refused if I'd wanted to. I folded myself into her bed and covered us up with her quilt. When I tried to ask what had happened, she just burrowed into my neck, hiding her face in mommy's safety. This is normal for her nightmares - she doesn't really ever tell me about it until later.

After a while I tried to get up, but her lip trembled and her voice wavered. I was hooked again. Eventually, she calmed down enough to give up having me to hide her face behind, if she could have the quilt cover her up completely. She asked for some more toys to hug, and I quietly went back to bed, hoping for the best.

This morning when she woke up, it was the first thing she talked to me about.

"I did sleep mama."
"Yep, you slept good, sweetie."
"Swiper was here, and he said 'I'm gonna get those toys' and I got a lil' fussy, so you snuggled in my bed to make me feel better and I covered my eyes and I did sleep."

So. That darn Swiper. Sneaking into Mia's dreams. Trying to swipe her toys.

It makes me feel so bad for her that she was scared. But at least it was only Swiper this time; I feel confident enough to talk her down with words like 'silly fox,' 'imagination,' and 'pretend.' It's much harder for me to not get a little creeped out when she's whispering about a big black thing trying to scratch her legs.

I'm not very brave in the middle of the night - but I'm always good for a little cuddling.