Jungle Lizards

Kids' minds amaze me. The things that they think about...and dream about, are so different from how adults think. It's pretty refreshing. Even when it's your three year old coming into your room at 2am because she had a dream about a jungle with a lizard in it.

With the cooler weather, we had slept with the windows open a couple of nights ago. We're assuming that the outside sounds crept into Maura's dreams that night. She came into our room with a frightened look on her little face. She was telling us that there was a lizard in the jungle. She must have been really creeped out, because she wouldn't even sleep in the little bed we have in our room for her...she HAD to be in our bed with us. So, while you're kind-of annoyed in the middle of the night, I really don't mind waking up to see the sleeping face of my little girl - an inch from mine.

Now, I know I've talked about it before, and even though it comes at the expense of Maura's psyche, it gives me a little burst of pride knowing that just being around me makes another human being feel safe. Those are some of the moments that come at you when you are least expecting it - the mom moments. Just like when only you can calm her down from a screaming fit....Or she lays her head in your lap and asks for nice-nice. (That's our family's name for gently rubbing your back...not quite rubbing...more with your fingernails, but lightly. It's the best! I used to make my grandma do it for hours!) I love those moments. It reinforces the fact that you're doing something right.

Okay. So now that we've convinced Maura that elephants don't like purple (thus why they don't come into her big girl room), now we have to come up with something else to keep the jungle lizards out. Ah, the trials of being a parent!