Toddler Led Co-Sleeping

Toddler led co-sleeping....

That's what I'm going to call it because that's the only way I can explain this weird regression that has Norah sleeping on our bedroom floor for the last two weeks.

One night she just brought her own blanket in and when I woke up, there she was, sandwiched between our bed and Linus' bed. After a couple nights of trying to take her back into her room only to have her back on the floor an hour later, I decided that right now my sleep is more important than staying up all night fighting the good fight.

This all happened around the time we started potty training (which she totally is now! Hallelujah!) so I figured maybe such a big event/change in her daily routine made her regress in another part of her life. But now she is expressing fears and worries and actually remembering dreams/nightmares that she is having particularly one involving "the green guy" which we later found out was Yoda from Star Wars. This dream was about a month ago and she still talks about Yoda daily but will reassure you that it was "all in her head and just a dream".

Today I asked her why she is afraid to sleep in her bed and she expressed her concern about strangers coming in her house. This is from a girl who, up until now, doesn't know a stranger because everyone is her friend. 

We've been trying to reassure her that we are so safe in our little gated neighborhood and that we lock our doors and Linus would never let anyone in our house and that she is always safe when Mommy and Daddy are around, but the truth is, I have the same fears sometimes.

This has been a great lesson in not projecting my own fears and worries onto her because it just breaks my heart that this innocent little cuddle bug is now facing real world fears and knows what it is to worry about something. 

This parenting thing is a wild ride. Just when you conquer one thing, another challenge pops up to throw you for a loop!