Mommy's Potpourri

Last night Anthony had his first real, terrifying nightmare. He has had bad dreams before. Usually he cries, Daddy goes and lays down with him and they both go back to sleep. Sometimes it takes a while for him to calm down before sleeping. This was a whole different thing. At 1am, Anthony woke up screaming. Daddy went in to lay with him, and they went to sleep for a few minutes. Anthony woke up freaking out. Screaming at the top of his lungs, swinging violently and shaking his head back and forth. He was hitting both of us when we tried to comfort him. He was looking around the (dark) room, and reacting as if he was seeing something. So we took him to the couch, gave him some milk, turned on the light and he calmed down. We asked him what happened and all he said was that he was scared. And when he thought about it, he started doing the shaking and jerking back and forth thing. We reassured him that nothing could hurt him, that dreams are not real, and we prayed to ask God to hel

I have figured out the pattern. 3 weeks out of the month Anthony listens relatively well. Then there is the 1 week where he decides to test everything he has ever been told. I actually questioned if he had some kind of hearing impairment because I have been talking to the air. Nothing registers in his mind unless I throw in the word 'popsicle' or mention watching the movie "Cars". Needless to say, this week has been one of those weeks. With the Lord's help I have had a grip on my patience and tone of voice - although I have screamed in a pillow more than once. Tonight, at the suggestion of a seasoned mommy-friend, I decided to put the boys to bed a half hour earlier than usual. This of course did not go over too smoothly and I ended up laying in bed with my 2 year old, rubbing his back and watching his little eyes grow heavy. (While silently hoping the giggles and squeals from my almost-one year old did not keep him from dreamland for too much longer.) As I