M-F-N SNAKES IN MY M-F-N BED!

Adele woke up in the middle of the night crying and hysterical about "M-F-N SNAKES IN MY M-F-N BED, YO!"

I mean, maybe it wasn’t exactly like that but for real.  She is terrified of snakes in her bed.  The first time it happened she freaked me out a bit because she cried and I went upstairs and she wasn’t in her bed.  I had a half-second heart attack but then saw her standing in the middle of her room.  And then I had another half-second heart attack because why was she out of bed?  That never happens when it’s dark outside.

I picked her up and tried to put her back in bed but her legs curled up and she refused to put them back on her mattress, then screamed about a SNAKE IN MY BED.  Turns out, in that instance, it was a red glow stick that she’d taken to bed with her.  I calmed her down, threw away the light stick and she was fine.  Every so often since then she’ll point to her bed and say “See?  No snakes!”

Last night she woke up again, which isn’t all that abnormal, honestly.  But this time the imaginary snake was back.  She was relatively calm when I got upstairs, sitting on the foot of her bed.  But then I started removing the paraphernalia she collects throughout the day – including all the hard plastic toys she insists on leaving in her bed – and she flipped out.  She jumped on to me and squeezed her arms and legs around me and refused to touch a toe to the bed.  She cried and screamed and seemed to completely believe there was a snake in her bed.

It’s a little disconcerting, to be honest.  I cleared out her bed and lay down with her once I convinced her there weren’t actually any snakes.  But she still wouldn’t stretch all the way out and a tiny, itty bitty part of me wondered if there wasn’t actually a snake in her bed.  I mean, I know.  Snakes aren’t really known for being out at this time of year, but if one had gotten lost or stuck or whatever, wouldn’t it look for a warm place to be?  Like a bed?

(There were no snakes.  I feel like I should emphasize that.)

It took two extended cuddles to get her completely able to sleep, which I was happy to do.  She will lay still, unlike her brother who insists on rolling and kicking and flinging his arms all around until I finally give up on having a nice, relaxing time together.

So I don’t know.  I have no idea where the fear of a bed full of snakes came from.  Maybe she’s watched too many of Sebastian’s fighting shows with him, which I always thought she didn’t really pay attention too.  But Ninjago has a few large snakes that aren’t all that nice. 

And it’s hard because I was lying with her, seeing her fear manifest itself into her chewing on her nails, and I didn’t know what to do.  So I held her and told her I loved her and made sure that there were no snakes.

She’s been fine, today, going about her business of taking care of her babies and running away from me when I try to get her dressed.  And occasionally she’ll mention that there aren’t snakes in her bed. 

(There were no snakes.)

(M-F-N SNAKES IN MY M-F-N BED!)