As Bella progresses through stages of childhood, I find myself remembering strange distant memories of my own childhood that relate to Bella's experiences. For instance, Bella has recently been waking up for her naps in a sweaty mess, crying for Mommy as if she were having bad dreams. Before this, she never cried when she woke up like some kids do, and she never got hot or sweaty in her sleep. We thought it was because the dark plastic bags we put behind the drapes were casting scary shadows across her room. Or maybe the scary blow-up doll of a giant Incredible Hulk sent her running in her dreams as they did in real-life when we recently went to the Kids Fair.
After seeing Bella react so fearfully of her naptimes, I began to remember my own vivid dreams that I had during my naps when I was young. Mine was a recurring dream where the Wicked Witch of the West (from the Wizard of Oz) was chasing me down a long hallway. I ran to the end where there was a swing-set - much like the one I had in my backyard. But just as I went to mount the swings, the Witch popped up beside me and was hanging from a nearby bar, dangling by her knees upside-down. This dream terrorized me for months.
I can only imagine what scary visions Bella must be having when she closes her eyes for naptime. Apparently, they're scary enough for her to begin resisting her naps, which is exactly what started happening this week. On Tues and Wed, she waged an all-out war with us as we tried to place her in her crib. She screamed at the top of her lungs yelling, "No night-night!" and then jumped straight out of the crib, Jackie Joyner-style, like a professional hurdler, landing butt-first on the ground. She definitely had made her point. No more forcing her naptime so we let her play until her eyelids were too heavy to keep open; she finally fell asleep sitting up.
The following days and nights, things progressively worsened. She resisted even going into her room, avoiding it at all costs. To allay her fears, I decided to sleep with her downstairs on the floor in the family room. It was fun for 2 nights, but fun was exactly what she wanted to have with mommy at 3 in the morning so today Jin and I went to buy her first real big-girl bed: a full-sized, Sealy posturpedic with 2 side-guards and Hello Kitty sheets. Needless to say, Bella loved her new bed. Plus she was allowed to bring many of her other friends, like doggie, Nemo, Doll-fish, and monkey, on the bed that didn't fit in her small crib. Hopefully, she won't wake up tonight and wander the house looking for fun...
Speaking of fun, sometimes I wonder what she would be scared of because normal things that you'd think a young toddler would fear, Bella actually finds fun. Like the giant 3-story slide that she insisted we take her on at the Kids Fair:
Even I was a bit intimidated by the size! Bella made us take her down at least 8 times.
And then there's her fearlessness of nearly all animals. At the Kids Fair, she bravely approached the billy goats and fed them from her own hands:
Here is what we call Bella Sandwich:
What a fun and fearless day she had!
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