This morning ("morning" used loosely) around 2:30 AM, Caleb crawled into our bed whimpering. We tucked him in between us and all went back to sleep. Then around 5:30 AM, he started whimpering again. He kept asking to talk to Daddy, to which I replied, "Daddy is really tired. Tell Mommy what you need." He wouldn't give up, so finally Marcus mumbled, "What's up, Caleb?" Caleb said indignantly, "Daddy, I don't want you to put me in a deep dark hole!" Marcus perked up a bit and began to reassure Caleb that he would never put him in a deep dark hole, and even went into detail about how he would do anything to pull him out of a deep dark hole if he ever got stuck in one. They went on talking and there was some mention of snakes in the hole and fighting them with swords and such. When it seemed Caleb was convinced that it was just a dream and that Daddy had nothing to do with putting him in a hole, I took Caleb downstairs so Marcus could get another 30 minutes of sleep.
A few minutes later, Caleb and I heard Ethan in the baby monitor. Immediately Caleb said, "I need to tell Ethan about my bad dream." Now he has never before felt an urgent need to tell 1-year-old Ethan anything, so I was intrigued to see how this would unfold. I brought Ethan downstairs and told Caleb he could talk to Ethan while I changed Ethan's diaper. Caleb said, "No thank you, I'll wait until he can listen to me." (I assume he meant with undivided attention.) After the diaper change, I sat Ethan down and silently prayed that he would give his brother a moment of attention for this. To my surprise and delight, Ethan must have caught the urgency in Caleb's voice and manner, because he sat there and stared intently at Caleb's face while Caleb relayed the entire story, complete with snakes and swords. Ethan even interjected appropriate affirming sounds like "oh" and "dah" whenever Caleb paused. I would do anything to have it on video tape! Caleb was so serious, like he was telling Ethan the meaning of life, and Ethan was soaking in every word. When Caleb finally stopped talking, Ethan started to get up, but Caleb stopped him with, "Ethan, I need to tell you one more thing." Ethan sat right back down and waited and Caleb said "Daddy didn't put me in that hole...it was just a dream." I'm glad he cleared that point up :)
3 comments:
Thankfully, the HS woke you both so you could hear the urgency in your sleep stupor! Perfect parenting (as only God can direct:) while sleep deprived!! Even little Ethan heard from God!:)
That is a sweet story, the kind of story you forget if you don't write it down. Thanks for sharing.
Ha, ha! That is great! Hey, at least you have it down in "print" for keeps. :)
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