That’ll Leave An Emotional Mark…
December 2, 2009Last night Xander woke up sometime around 2:30 am. Most of the time he cries until one of us comes down to help him. This time, he decided to come find us. After our first night in the new house, we discovered that we really needed quite a few night lights around (otherwise movement about the house was quite treacherous!) So, there is of course a night light in Xander’s room as well as one in the living room right outside. One in the stairway upstairs, and one in the hallway just outside our bedroom. I say this to illustrate that we don’t leave our kid completely alone in the dark – there is light, and he has successfully made his way from his room to our room in the night before.
Unfortunately, last night he didn’t make it… In a sleepy stupor opened the first door he found (the closet) and walked inside. The door closed behind him, leaving him in complete darkness (no, we don’t have a nightlight in the closet – who knew we needed one!) He of course began to cry, but a floor away in a close closet at 2:30 am, his cries took a minute to reach our sleeping ears. By the time Zach rescued him, he had wet himself completely (shirt, pants, underwear and socks). We changed him, and then wrapped him in our arms in our bed for the rest of the night. After a few whimpers he settled down and snuggled with us for a few more hours.
This morning he didn’t seem to remember his traumatic nighttime events, but boy if he ever does, that’s enough to leave some kind of emotional mark on one’s psyche…
Poor Xander! Hopefully it’s one of those traumatic childhood events that he will block out for a very, very long time!