I woke up around 1:00 a.m. to shouts from Olivia's room. "Aaaauugh! No! Stop!" I ran to her room and found her shaking and terrified. Of what? "That butterfly is going to get me, Mommy! Make it stop!"
The "butterfly" in question was the shadow of the ceiling fan blades cast on the ceiling by the faint light from Olivia's night light. It was, to her mind, terrifying enough to keep her glued to her bed and shouting instead of running to our room as usual.
Since Christmas, Olivia seems to have developed a fear of the dark. She's doing better at going to sleep on her own as long as we check on her frequently and keep the hall light on. But more and more she's calling us back to her room because of something "scary", including monsters. I don't know where she came up with the idea of monsters, but there it is.
I'm thinking maybe it's time to leave a lamp on in her room. But I don't know if that will interrupt her sleep. It certainly won't eliminate the terrifying "butterfly" on the ceiling...
1 comment:
Asher was about Olivia's age when he developed a fear of the dark too. We leave the lamp on in the sunroom (which shares a doorway with his room, so I guess it's the equivalent of leaving the light on in the hall). I think it's just part of the age. Does she sleep with anything? Bringing every stuffed animal they own to bed usually starts happening about this age, too.
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