Night terrors

Or, The Curious Incident of the Punch in the Night-time.

The scene: Charming Bungalow. It is 3:45 in the morning, and our heroine Anithe wakes (probably from a weird dream; those have been prevalent lately) to the sound of a crying Action Hero.

Action Hero: Mommy! Mommy!

Me: What's wrong, honey? (picks him up and hugs him)

Action Hero: Boyboy punch me in da EYE! Da EYE!

Me: Uh. There, there. (looks across the room at Boy Wonder, soundly asleep and snoring gently) But you know, I think that was a dream.

Action Hero: (sniffle) DWEEM! Puncha da eye. (sniffle)

Me: Uh-huh. Well, come sleep on my shoulder for a while, 'kay?

So, why is my two-year-old dreaming about his brother punching him in da eye, anyway? Since we don't actually run around punching each other in the eyes at our house.

Theory 1: Well, why not? He and Boy Wonder have been having small tugs of war over toys, and Boy Wonder, being both larger and more possessive, frequently yanks toys away. Plus Action Hero accidentally whacked Boy Wonder in the eye the other day, as both of them ran up the stairs (it really was accidental, Boy Wonder was behind him and Action Hero was just Racing with Big Brother, a favored activity in these parts). Boy Wonder then said, "My eye! My eye!" and needed much consolation.

Theory 2: You may have seen dogs and cats do all sorts of wacky things - kick, make running motions with their paws, or shake their heads - in their sleep? Well, kids do the same thing. From my vast experience as a parent of two behaviorally quite similar children, the smaller they are, the more they twitch, flail, and make amusing facial expressions. It is likely that Action Hero flailed in his sleep, whacking himself in the eye and startling awake, and his small sleepy brain concluded that the only other person in the room was to blame.