Suddenly, the room is SCARY

At naptime today, Sydney called for us, claiming that his room was "(s)cary". Mike went in and snuggled with him.

At bedtime tonight, after he had been in bed quietly for a few minutes, he called out:

"Mommy!" (pause for 5 seconds) "Mommy!" (pause for 3 seconds)

"Mommy, need you, Mommy! My room is (s)cary!"

I went to his room, finding him clinging to his babygate. I pried his fingers off and led him to his bed, asking him to show me what is SCARY in his room.

"Dunno." he said. I covered him with his blanket and gave him a hug.

"This is the same room that it was last night and last night it wasn't scary. Was it?"

"Um... no."

"Tell you what.... how about I uncover this light on your radio so that you can see better. How does that sound?"

"Dat'd be good idea. Tank ewe."

He seemed satisfied with the blue glow of the clock lighting up his room. We'll hope for a good night of sleep now!

• • •

Did a little online research on the subject tonight afterwards. Turns out, this is common behavior for 3 year olds that have an active imagination. Research said that we need to validate his fears and avoid teasing him/talking him out of it. They suggested a night light and/or allowing one of his stuffed animals to be his "protector".

For not REALLY knowing what to do, I think I handled it reasonably well (even if I did think it was just another stall tactic on his part.)