Nightmares of a Toddler

X has been (mostly) sleeping through the night for awhile now. But still, at least once or twice a week (no joke!) I will hear him calling for me in the middle of the night. His cries range from sad, "Mommy . . ." utterings to more urgent, "Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!" (repeated until I can get my sleepy buns up and outta bed to his side).

Often, I will wait his calls out to see if he'll put himself back to sleep, and lately he has been saying a lot more than just my name. I hear lots of "No, MINE!" and "M, stop!" and the garbledee-goop he babbles when he's really frustrated.

Clearly he's reliving the worst parts of his almost two-year-old life on these nights.

I feel helpless to do anything, because when I do go in and pat his back and reassure him, he obviously is not all the way awake. In fact, he'll sometimes interact with me, but it is still evident that he's not "all there."

This whole toddler-talking-in-his-sleep thing elicits amusement and compassion in me the first two or three times I go in to settle him down (and remember, I DO try to let him work it out on his own--I only go in when he's getting so loud that I'm afraid he'll start waking up other folks---like the doggone neighbors---with his yelling and screaming).

It is my habit to always glance at the clock whenever I get out of bed for my kids. Last night, X began his nightmare cycle at almost exactly 1 a.m. I stopped counting how many times I got out of bed because it was just making me mad; the last time I went into hush him, it was 2:24. A.M.

I am tired.