no more zombie dreams

Two nights ago, Josh woke us up about two in the morning. He said he was having scary dreams about monsters.

"Have you ever seen a monster in our house?" I mumbled, my mouth still asleep.

"No."

"Have you ever seen a monster anywhere in real life?" I croaked, my voice still asleep.

"No."

We talked him through his fears, kissed his face a few times, and sent him back to bed.

Of course he came back and woke us up a second time to tell us he still couldn't sleep. We weren't quite as nice the second time, but talked him into going back to bed.

In the morning he explained that he'd been dreaming about zombies. And when he went to bed he was really worried that he'd dream about them again.

Chris said, "How about I wake you up in the night if I get scared? Is that okay?"

"No," Josh said, in a growling Dad voice. "I have to work in the morning."

Chris laughed and then bent over Josh in his bed. He put his forehead against Josh's and said, "Why don't you put your zombie dreams into my head. I'll take your bad dreams tonight." Then Chris was nice enough to offer to put his own good dreams about rainbows, ponies, leprechauns, and Lucky Charms into Josh's head. That made Josh relax and fall asleep with a smile.

This morning when I woke up, Chris was still sleeping. I came out to find Josh and Ashley snuggled on the couch reading Lego and American Girl magazines.

"I had really good dreams last night," Josh said. He seemed amazed that Chris's trick worked. "I wonder if Dad dreamed about zombies?"

He could hardly restrain himself from running in to wake Chris up to find out. When Chris finally dragged himself out of bed (looking a bit like a zombie--no wonder Josh was scared of them, since his parents look like that every morning), Josh ran up to thank his dad for trading dreams and asked if Chris had dreamed about zombies.

"Nope," Chris said. "I didn't have any dreams at all."

Then I told them I'd dreamed about zombie clowns last night. Josh giggled as I told them that maybe when I kissed Chris before bed, he transferred Josh's dreams to me.

Be careful when transferring dreams around. It's dangerous business.