monkey business

Several mornings ago, Rachel greeted us with ramblings about a monkey visiting upstairs. She took me by the hand and lead me to the nursery, where we looked for the monkey. "He's gone now," she declared when he was nowhere to be found. She said he was big and red, and she seemed amused by him. She mentioned several times that she hoped he would come back and play with her. It was cute.

Until bedtime that night. Somehow, a second-floor monkey is delightful by day, but kinda scary by night. I couldn't argue with that, either. She screamed. She shrieked. We couldn't leave her alone upstairs. The first night, Jarrad stayed with her until she went to sleep. She woke up at 11pm and became hysterical again, at which point Jarrad let her sleep with him in the guest bed. The next two nights were difficult. She was scared, and we couldn't bare it, and we didn't know how to solve it. After reading some, and mulling it over, I quickly implemented "sleep rules:" 1. Stay in your bed, 2. Close your eyes, 3. Be still and quiet, and 4. Go to sleep. I hyped them up, made posters to hang on her wall, and promised stickers and various other rewards the next morning. She bought it. After a little whimper, she made the conscious decision to follow the sleep rules.

Our problem was solved for almost a week. But yesterday, we fought at nap time. After some visitors, we got to nap about one hour too late, and she was spent. After some "reminding" about the rules, she finally slept. We had visitors again last night, and she went to bed about an hour too late, again. And she screamed. She shrieked. She did finally give up and go to sleep, but we were exhausted. Nap today did not happen, and I was so very ready for bedtime to come tonight. We put her down a full hour earlier than usual. She was so sleepy, but she protested nonetheless. I finally had the brilliant idea to promise her a time frame: follow the rules for 30 minutes, and then we will come check on her. That did the trick...this time.

In addition to the sleep rules, the monkey dream has given us lots of opportunities to talk about God. We have always talked with Rachel about God, but she's never listened like she has in these last two weeks. She has become fixated on being by herself and she doesn't like it. If I had a dime for every time she whimpered, "but, I'll be all by myself," I'd be one rich mommy. Anyway, we've talked and prayed and talked some more about how God is always with us and she does not need to be scared of anything. I tell her that Mommy and Daddy love her most of all, but God loves her even MORE than Mommy and Daddy (that's so hard to say, but it's true, since I don't have the capacity to love the way God does). We've read from the Bible, and she's even prayed some herself, and she does seem comforted by that. Of course, all of this is what prompted the ramblings from my previous post.

I am glad to hear her talking about God and working through what it means to have God in her life. I want her to understand how powerful the name of Jesus is, and I love hearing her talk to Him or asking me to pray to Him, "for the monkey." My greatest prayer is that she will soon be able to comprehend the immense sacrifice He made for us--and that she will desire a relationship with Him.

Praise God for the ways He gets our attention!