Dreams & Nightmares…and Imagination!

My youngest, Ethan 3, has been experiencing nightmares lately. Not fun.
Last night his crying sent my heart in full panic mode! I rushed to his room to see his arms fully extended waiting for me and I when I got to him he squeezed me so hard and just cried and cried.
“What’s wrong buddy?”
More crying. No answer.
“Ethan why are you crying?”
More crying. No answer.
“Did you have a scary dream?”
Even as his up and down motion of the head confirmed my suspicion, I still do not think he understands what is going on with dreams. So, if he can’t even comprehend (which lets face it, it’s a hard thing for even an adult to understand) it, how can mommy explain it and then fix it?
I dislike nightmares very much. The unconscious mind of children should be a happy place!
I have prayed with him when this happens and that does seem to help. We pray for dreams filled with footballs, puppies playing, racecars, balloons, and pizza!
The one good thing about nightmares in a child is that they are, forgotten by morning. It’s only in adulthood that they stick with you longer! However, I have begun to wonder if those cranky dreams make for a cranky little boy? Hmmmmm? Will I ever know any of these answers?

What is so amazing about the imagination of a child, however, is the pure power of it! Conscious or unconscious, the imagination is a wonderful thing! You cannot tell your child that what they are doing is just “pretend.” When their imagination is working on overtime you better prepare yourself to “step only on the island (carpet) so you won’t sunk” or watch what or who your try to toss in the garbage “NO don’t throw the princess away! (a Kleenex tied with a string!)”

Ethan woke up in the wee hours Thursday morning calling for me. Another nightmare? I didn’t hear fear in his voice. Down the stairs I go and as soon as I reach his room, he begins to tell me all about this really tall and really cool bean stock.
“I think you had a dream buddy!”
He replied very sleepily, “NO it’s real mommy. I will show you.”
“Okay Ethan. Where is it?”
When he didn’t respond I looked down to see that he had fallen back asleep. A few hours later when it was time to ACTUALLY wake up, I had forgotten about the bean stock and I thought he had to.
We were walking out of our front door to take Brenna to school and Ethan stops and looks down our little road. I could not help but notice the very confused look on his face and watched him adjust his head as if to get a better view.
“What do you see Ethan?”
“Mommy!! The bean stock is GONE!” He explains pointing.
“Oh!”
“It was right there on the road mommy. It was really big and tall.”
I waited to see what reason he would come up with for the “disappearance” of the bean stock.
“Some one must have moved it.” He concluded.
Obviously.
As I was loading him in the car, I said, “Maybe the bean stock was just your imagination?”
He looked up at me thought for a minute put on his cutest face managed a little giggle and said, “Yeah, it was just my magination mommy.”
As I closed the car door and went to walk around the car, I glanced back to see his face pressed against the glass and his eyes searching!
I just love imagination!