Nightmares

Well, since Disney on Ice, Eleanor has been making great efforts to reassure herself and everyone else that the show was 'not scary.' She talks about it a lot. She says, 'the ghosts wasn't scary' and 'the spider web not scary' and 'that fire is just pwetend.'

She started having nightmares associated with things she had seen in the show, and there have been a few nights when we got very little sleep. She started associating her Elmo toddler bed with the nightmares and became hysterical at the very mention that she should get in it. So one day, after having been awake since 1 A.M., I made the (somewhat irrational?) decision that we would head to Wal-Mart at 6 A.M. to find her some other sort of bed to sleep on.

I ended up buying one of those blow-up mattresses like you take camping. I also let her pick a new comforter (Dora!) and new sheets. We took it all home, pumped up the mattress, and voila! new "big-girl" bed. The mattress is very comfortable and is high enough off the ground that it looks like a real bed.

The best part is that it worked!! She has slept very well since we came up with the new arrangement, and is still excited at bedtime to climb into her big-girl bed. There have even been a couple of mornings when she slept until 7:30! Woo-hoo!