Zombie Boy

So, I've been hesitant to put this on here because I don't want anyone talking behind my back about it. But Evan has been sleeping in our bed on and off (Who am I kidding? Mostly ON!) since about April when he had his big whammy of an ear infection. We've had a really hard time getting him out of there. So, we started diligently trying on Sunday. He slept in his bed Sunday night and Monday night. And he's been in his bed for naptime for a little over a week now. But he's not getting much sleep. His naps have been way short. He falls asleep around 10 p.m. and wakes up around 7 a.m. So, he's not been the most pleasant little boy (read: whiny!!) lately.

So, last night I realized he probably had about an 8-hour sleep debt. I told Michael we were starting the bedtime routine at 6:30, which we did. Michael gets him to bed around 8:15. Wow! Then Michael fell asleep and I was on my own. At 11:30, I was working away and just sense something behind me. I turn around and there is Evan. He scares the poo out of me because he is absolutely silent as he walks up so I don't expect anything there. I had to work on lowering my heart rate for about a minute before I could even talk to him. Finally he told me there was a shadow in his room and he was afraid of the shadow. I went in his room to check it out. This shadow was made by the lamp he insists stays on hitting his bedroom door, which was all the way open, and making a shadow behind the door. Just the one inch or so between the back of the door and the wall. Um, okay. So I try for about half an hour to talk him out of being afraid of the shadow. I try to get rid of it by shutting the door a little ways and hanging a towel up over it. I remind him about Peter Pan's shadow. I show him my shadow. I suggest we turn the lamp off so there's no shadow. I'm getting nowhere. Time to call in the smart guy. Dad. So Michael starts talking to him about shadows. They do some experiments. There is laughing and carrying on. But in the end he still wanted to sleep in our bed because he was afraid of the shadow. Michael said, "Evan, if I get rid of the shadow, will you sleep in your own bed?" Evan said he would. I heard Michael go out to the garage (I was back to my work by now!). Then I heard the drill. Michael took Evan's door off. Ha! No door, no door shadow.

I must commend Michael. He really stuck to his guns. Actually, since Sunday night, he has not given in. No matter what time of night, no matter how tired he is, he insists that Evan sleep in his own bed (I was caving after about 5 minutes last night!). And he's really nice and wonderful about it, too. He's a really great dad. Now if I can just get him to get this bedroom door out of the dining area.