DREAM A LITTLE DREAM
How many of you parents out there are currently, or have experienced, the dreaded "bad dream" phase? I urgently wave my hand in the air. I did it with Jenna for almost a year (very aggrivating when your kid won't tell you WHAT the dream is about), I'm doing it with Karis (same as the first, second verse).
Hubby and I figured maybe Kierra doesn't dream - or that her dreams are a lot different than typical children. I mean, how should I really know? I can't exactly simulcast the dreams she has. But the one thing I have noticed is that ever since she started sleeping through the night around eight months of age, Kierra simply NEVER wakes up at night. She certainly has never cried out in her sleep, or had a bad dream. I found it fascinating really - why wouldn't she? My question was answered last night - Kiera does in fact, have bad dreams.
Around 3:00 am I woke up to crying, figuring it was probably Karis. As I woke up a little more out of my Advil PM stupor, I realized the cry was Kierra. I was startled, and ran out of the room and down the hall to her. She was just lying in bed, crying and very upset. When I tried to comfort her, she asked for her daddy (sheesh that's kinda a kick in the pants). So I went to get Jarrett and as soon as he walked in the door, she calmed down and went back to bed.
Jarrett and I are stumped. Not only because less than a week ago went by that we were talking about this EXACT subject, but we have no clue what the dream was about. With the other kids, they are capable of telling us, even when they don't. But Kierra doesn't really have much of a means. She does talk somewhat, but it's equivalent to a 1 1/2 to a 2 year old's speech ability. My husband asked me if this revelation is good or bad. I looked at him in surprise and said, "How can it be bad?" I guess he was worried this was a negative impact in her progress. I, however, think the exact opposite. Shouldn't it be encouraging that Kierra's mind would work in a way that would produce a dream that would worry her? That she is thinking beyond perhaps her rigid ways? Or maybe it means totally nothing - she's just a five year old girl that finally had a dream scary enough to make her want her daddy.
But really - I can't help but wonder about it.
7 comments:
I would take Kierra's dream as a good thing, for sure.
And Princess has those kinds of dreams, and can't tell me what they are about, either. It's as if she is still sort of dreaming/sleeping as I get her settled back under the covers. And in the morning, she doesn't even remember the bad dream at all.
Your sweet girl's mind is working. I just hope she doesn't have too many unsettling dreams!
I can empathize from the standpoint of not knowing what is going on. Peaches is only 17 months old and has been doing the whole waking-up-crying-for-no-apparent-reason. I figured she has to be having bad dreams.
But I do think it's a good thing if that's what Kierra's experiencing. It's gotta be frustrating not being able to talk to her about though.
Awww.... how scary but it is always nice to have those "normal" things happen with your special needs child.
My oldest had Night Terrors... athough completely different from bad dreams and nightmares (it has more to do with sleep walking) ... I know how you feel
{{Big Hugs}}
PS... it is a kick in the pants isn't it?
I do so sympathise, the speech delay makes everything so much more complicated.
Best wishes
Wow...
I tend to agree with your thoughts on it...that her mind is working at a level that is capable of creating a bad dream...
...and bad dreams seem to be a fairly common thing---I've had them...I think just about everyone I know has had at least ONE!
Like Kierra, Sweet Boy never tells us about the contents of his bad dreams just the fact that he had them. I've always wondered whether he was just too scared to talk about the specifics, didn't really remember the details, or whether it was something else.
It's hard when they wake up from a bad dream and are too afraid of having another to fall back to sleep.
I think it is a good sign too. She is stepping closer to articulation when she can identify it as frightening.
Liv went through a period of a few months when she was about 3 when she had night terrors. That used to scare the hell out of me. That blood curdling screaming and then when I would go into her room, she would be staring sightlessly, like a little zombie.
She would never remember a thing in the morning and after a few months, it totally stopped. I never knew the cause or the reason they ended.
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