That'll teach me

I think Ella may be coming out of her six-month clingy phase. But it's slow going. She still gets "scared" to go upstairs or downstairs on her own, often. And she comes into our room in the middle of the night every. single. night. Fortunately, she doesn't wake us up anymore, but just crawls right on in and snuggles. And, she is very snuggly, although occasionally a little kicky. So it doesn't affect us that much. It affects me positively, frankly. I like snuggling.

But I confess to having felt irritated lately about the "scared" bit. It has seemed to me like an excuse. Ella might have been scared after a movie or something, but then, it seemed, she talked herself into just being scared, and scared she has stayed. Not always, just when it's convenient, it seems to me.

Well, the other night I had a nightmare. A terrible nightmare. About GHOSTS, of all things. And I, the 39-year-old avowed rational rejecter of all things supernatural, was terrified to get out of bed for a few minutes. I cowered there under the blankets, and cuddled next to David for a while before I could breathe normally and go back to sleep.

So, okay. If a person like me could get freaked out by her own imagination, by things that don't exist, why not a little 7-year-old. It will just require a little more thought to acknowledge the fact that her fear exists without seeming to validate it--and without quite the tartness that may have characterized my no-nonsense attitude lately.