Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Creative Nightmares

Demon Baby has an incredible capacity to make up extraordinary stories. We have a dragon under our staircase, and he speaks to space people. He has robots all over the house, and he takes apart anything and everything he can to use the parts to create his robots. I guess then it would be only natural that his dreams would be fairly creative.

And his nightmares.

The poor little guy suffers from night terrors. If you don't know what these are, they are nearly impossible to soothe him through. I am the only one in the house with the stamina to get through it, which means rocking him for sometimes as long as thirty minutes, the whole while this little guy is in the throes of raw terror. But he doesn't remember them.

Now, however, he has real nightmares. And they are doozies. His new nightmare of choice, which means he comes into my bed at 2:00 a.m., terrified, is there are leprachauns under his bed that eat little boys. Now, to me, leprachauns are little men with big belt buckles who bring gold. But not so for Demon Baby. Apparently, they are cannibals.

The amazing thing, of course, is his mind, developing and full of creativity. It is a reminder to me of how extraordinary the world of children is. How special they are. A reminder to me to be so grateful. Across the world, there are children having nightmares who aren't soothed. Or children so weak from hunger they likely don't dream. Not the way my child does.

His nightmares are a reminder to me he sleeps someplace safe and warm with people who love him. And how very lucky we are.

10 comments:

Melanie Hooyenga said...

I have had terrible nightmares my entire life, starting at age three. One of the recurring ones from that age was I was in a rowboat in the middle of the ocean, I fell out, and my life jacket slipped off. As I sank deeper and deeper, the shadow of a HUGE shark circled overhead, coming closer. That's it, but I had it every night.

It's possible Jaws may have influenced that (I was born in '75) but I had it for years.

Good luck with DB.

Erica Orloff said...

Melanie:
I have recurring nightmares of being in a house (not MY house) and having to hide from a serial killer or Nazi-types. Always hiding in terror. Nightmares are just awful, so I feel so bad for the little guy. Hopefully, the cannibal leprachauns will go away soon.
E

pita-woman said...

I suffered from them something awful as a youngster. Still do occasionally, but not nearly as often.
Perhaps Demon Baby will use his fabulous imagination to follow in your footsteps and become a great writer, or perhaps write screenplays his sister will produce/direct. Maybe his nightmares will lead him to become the next Stephen King...

Nessa said...

Aww, little demon is Blessed to have you and your comfort!

Robin said...

I've always thought Leprachauns were scary. I mean, look at that fashion choice. They're short, yet they wear a giant belt which completely cuts their vertical line. They're chubby, yet wear a huge belt buckle. Do they really want to call attention to their bellies? I can totally see where Demon Baby's coming from. Ick.

Melanie Hooyenga said...

My dreams usually focus around people trying to kill me - usually a team of people seizing my house, killing my family, that kind of fun stuff.

I hope the leprechaun goes away too.

Erica Orloff said...

pita-woman:
My younger daughter is into writing and filmmaking, but I also think he got the storytelling gene. Time will tell. Right now he says he's going to start a rock band.

E

Erica Orloff said...

Thanks, Nessa. It's so awful, I think. Last night he had a nightmare that a evil FOOT was chasing him. A little odd, yes.

E

Erica Orloff said...

Robin:
I think they could indeed be sinister!
E

Erica Orloff said...

melanie:
I so relate!!!!!
E