See Ya Later, Alligator!

Oh how I wish that this cute little phrase would take care of our nightly drama!

Coralyn tends to go through phases when she says and/or does certain things repeatedly day after day after day after day...  Recently, her hang-up is, "Mommy, I'm scared."

She tells me this when I ask her to put something away in her room, and the light isn't on -- because it's the middle of the day and the sunshine is pouring in through her window.  Yet, she's still scared.  Scared of what, I ask her.  "Ummmmmm," as she has to stop and think for several looooooong seconds about her answer.  Then, finally, she comes up with something, "There's an alligator in my room."  And so I "investigate" to find out where the alligator is and then proceed to ensure her that that alligator has left, or that there wasn't even an alligator in the first place.  I try reasoning with her, "Alligators live in Florida, not Missouri."  or "We only see alligators at the zoo, in their cages.  An alligator would never be able to get inside our house, or your room."  Logical explanations just don't fly with Coralyn though.  Not at three years old.

She also lets me know, "Mommy, I'm scared," when she opens the bathroom door, and once again the light isn't on.  I will give her that the room is dark since it doesn't have any windows, and I always go turn the light on, right as she informs me that she could see the alligator's red eyes peeking out in the blackness.  Oh the imagination!!!  And the memory...as she saw this on an episode of Diego.  Who knew that rescuing animals could lead to nightmares.

Oh yes, that would be the most difficult, and tiring, time when Coralyn screams, "Mommy, I'm scared!" in the middle of the night.  Night after night after night after night.  Usually around 2 am.  Usually right after I have just finished nursing Kellah and gotten her to go back to sleep.  Like last night...

We have tried everything to try and prevent this problem from happening time and time and time again.  We gave her a night light.  That resulted in shadows on her wall, and she was scared of those.  We left her door open and the hallway light on, but still she would wake up in the middle of the night, scared and screaming, endlessly.  We have been leaving her lamp on as well, thinking perhaps that would help, as she requests it vehemently every single night.  And yet, she continues to have these nightmares of an alligator (usually) that result in seemingly unsolable screaming.  She doesn't stop when Lawrence or I go in to talk with her and make sure she's okay, either.  Oh no, she keeps on crying, LOUDLY, no matter what we say or do.  We can hold her and rock her, but she yells even LOUDER.  We can "grab the alligator and throw him all the way to China."  We can pray with her.  If she does calm down, we attempt to leave her room and go back to bed, which results in more frantic, hysterical kicking and shouting.  Last night, I even laid on her floor and waited until she fell back asleep.  Thinking it was safe to get up and return to the comfort of my own bed -- and covers -- I quietly tiptoed out of the room and crawled wearily back into my bed.  Not fifteen minutes later, she was up and screaming again!!!!

I am so tired.  Exhausted doesn't really do justice to how I feel.  Kellah, bless her little heart, is getting over what I think was an ear infection.  Thankfully, she's not screaming in pain for hours on end no matter what I do, BUT she has gone back to waking up countless times in the night.  And we had just started week 4 of her sleeping through the night!!!  I guess I got spoiled, in such a short time!  Last night, she had just woken up, again, and I was doing my best to rock her back to sleep when I hear Coralyn coming out of her room, dragging her blanket behind her.  I quickly dash to her door and ask, "What are you doing?"  She gives her typical response, "Mommy, I'm scared.  There's an alligator in my room."  Holding Kellah and swaying back and forth with her, since she just closed her eyes, I go into Coralyn's room, take a look around, and assure her that the alligator has left.  She insists on going into Mommy and Daddy's room and sleeping in our bed, as she has done for the past several nights.  Having her sleep with us isn't that big of a deal, I guess.  BUT, it certainly inhibits my sleep, as having her knee in my back or her foot across my face or her snoring in my ear doesn't really help me feel refreshed in the morning.  Quite the opposite.  Plus, I really don't want it becoming a pattern.  I don't mind if she sleeps in our bed, say on Saturday morning, but every night is not ideal.  I want her to face her fear, to overcome it.

How to go about doing that, though, I am not sure.

I certainly wish I had the answer, yesterday!!!

Lawrence did an amazing job of coming in to the room, grabbing the alligator, and tossing him all the way to China.  He held her.  Rocked her.  Prayed with her.  Tickled her.  Read Bible stories to her.  Still, she screamed and yelled and hollered and shouted.  And it's a scary thing to hear.  Almost like she's a totally different person.  Definitely not my sweet, precious little girl.  Far from it.  As far as China.  Maybe farther.

And so, we are at a total loss of what to do.

At 2 am, I want to be having sweet dreams, not dealing with alligators.  At 2 am, I have already dealt with enough drama to last an entire lifetime and am not really in the mood to handle yet another toddler tantrum.  At 2 am, being calm and patient and compassionate does not come naturally.  At 2 am, I just want to find that annoying alligator, grab him by the nose, look him square in the eye, and in my meanest mommy voice tell him, "See ya later, alligator," and then swing him out the door and lock it behind him.

Has anyone else dealt with "alligators" and come up with a remedy to keep them away, forever?!  If so, PLEASE...I am begging you, tell me your secret.

If you could let me know before 8 pm tonight that would be all the better!