Mom, I'm Scared

 
This is one sentence I am so
tired of hearing, but I’m trying to be “mom” about it and be understanding. 
It’s the line my five year old has been giving us for the last few weeks.  Every
time we tell him to go to bed, he finds me where ever I am in the house and
says,  “mom, can I sweep in your room?” ( Yes, he pronounces his “l” sound with
the “w” sound). He goes on to say that he is too scared to close his eyes.  We
keep telling him, there is nothing to be afraid of, but he’s not going for it.  
It does have me somewhat concerned because just a couple of weeks ago he didn’t
mind sleeping in his own room with the lights off, but now, forget it. 
My
fourteen year old had night terrors when he was around four or five, those were
the worse, he would cry and sometimes scream if I remember correctly, and when I
would go into the room to check on him, he was just fine, didn’t have a clue
that he was just  scared to death.  But with my five year old, something is a
little different.
  About a week or so ago, he literally ran in my room and
hid behind the baby bed, (yes my two year old still sleeps in the baby bed;
don’t judge).  I had only seen something like that in a movie, and probably a
horror movie.  But more like the Wayans Brothers horror movie, because although
I was concerned, it was one of the funniest things I have ever seen.  I asked
him, “what’s wrong baby?”  and just as my older son couldn’t remember, my five
year old also had no clue as to what happened?  I’m going to keep my eye on him,
but he is perfectly fine until it’s time to go to sleep.  A big part of me
thinks he just wants to stay up, because he loves power rangers and will watch
them for hours (yes, I let my child watch hours of tv; don’t judge, he can read
too), but  a small part of me is very cautious.  I don’t want to be one of those
parents on the horror movies who doesn’t believe that their kid is being
tormented by an alien monster at night, and they really are.  So I got my
peripheral on it.  For now, I keep a blanket and a pillow on the couch in my
room, I know he’ll be in my room about 1 or 2am.  No big deal I guess, because
my two year old is up about 12:30 to get out of his baby bed and into ours, and
my seven year old makes a bed on one of those dora couches you get from Toys R
Us.  He comes in around 2 or 3am, (and yes he is too long for that couch, and
the cushion is gone so he might as well be laying on the floor, but hey, that’s
his choice.)  All I can do is make sure there is a blanket there waiting for him
when he arrives. 
“Mom, I’m scared…..” blah blah blah, I know what that
line means for me.  It means Bobby and I can forget about private time.   I hope
this is a short phase for him, I want him to be comfortable about falling asleep
and doing it in his own room.  But until then, I’ll just have to deal with his
question every night.  At least he’s cute when he asks.  But no matter how cute
he is, I know all you parents know what the answer is…..two words, six
letters…….And although I don’t actually verbalize the two words to my child, I’m
definitely thinking them.  I give him a big hug and a kiss on those chubby
cheeks and tell him “I’ll see you in a couple of hours..”