"mommy all gone"....

[bean3]

My son usually nurses to sleep in the rec room with me, but last night he just would not fall asleep. He was fighting it and fighting it. So I took him into our bedroom (we co-sleep), and he says...

MOM-I all gone.

How sad is that? I explained to him that I was right there and was touching his hair, touching his arm, honking his nose. MOM-I was definitely with him, but because it was dark and he could not SEE me, I was "all gone". He is 23 months.

Any time I went back to the end of the hallway with him, he was scared to pieces of the dark rooms.

Poor thing. Anyone else have this happen to them?

[Sakari]

poor guy! Being scared is a strange thing - I never really know how to help them! DSS (6yo) gets scared very easily. But then DSD (3yo) is never afraid. Tho she will try to tell us she is sometimes. "I'm scaaaared! to get dressed!" (while grinning and shaking her hands back and forth...)

I hope someone else has some words of wisdom for you!!

[katesmash]

We haven't had that happen yet.. DD is 19 months. Have you tried keeping a nightlight in the hall or in the bedroom? It might help him. We have one in the hallway and one in DD's room. It doesn't make it too bright, just enough to break the darkness and see a little bit.

[bean3]

Thanks for the comments!

It is an all-of-a-sudden thing. He's never had a problem before, so it sort of surprised me.

I did take him into the dining room and swiped the plug-in night light from there and explained to him that I was going to install it in the bedroom and that there was no more dark because of it. It helped a little, but not a lot. I figured I will just keep pointing out the obvious, in those wonderfully reassuring tones that I've perfected over the years! When we went down for a nap this afternoon, it was pretty dark in there but not "completely" dark, and he was absolutely fine.

He must have just had a moment of uncertainty. Poor guy.