Princess Nightmares

So today was just a normal day sparkled with a few unusual events. I was awoken by Regan "screaming" for me at about 4AM. When I went into her room, she was sobbing and finally managed to tell me that she had eaten, yes, eaten Sleepy Beauty and Belle. I consoled her and climbed back into her bed with her, all the while, trying to explain what dreams are to a 3 year old. I slept with her for the rest of the morning in the hopes she would be ok come sun-up.

She made it the rest of the day just great. We spoke a couple of times about the "princess eating dream" and how it can be frightening. I was pretty sure she got the concept until she came to me at 6 PM with her Cinderella doll. Now, Cinderella is about 3 to 4 inches tall and hard but slightly bendable plastic. Regan also has Sleeping Beauty and Belle to round out her collection. Again, she started with her insistence that she ate her other two dolls. At this point, I begin to worry. I am wondering if she really was dreaming or did she somehow manage to choke down two plastic dolls and then wake up in the night feeling guilty about it. I sit with her and establish that she last saw the dolls in her bed but then they got lost... "no, no, not lost - eaten." I begin to panic but then get a clever idea. I ask her to please show me how she ate them by demonstrating with her "left over" Cinderella doll.

She says, "I can't eat her, she's too hard."

I feel slightly relieved, but then say, "Then how did you eat the other two dolls? They were just as hard."

She says, "I just crunched them down."

OK, so nothing really to go on there. I told her to go downstairs and I would try to find them.

She says, "Yes, help me find them in my tummy." UGHHH!

This would all be funny if I wasn't so paranoid and hypersensitive about health related issues.

I start tearing her room apart and after a few minutes of uncovering all kinds of missing apparel and health and beauty aids, I find the two dolls. WHEW!!!!

I brought her up and she immediately started to giggle with relief. I have never seen a 3 year old express relief before. It was memorable and sweet. We sat and talked some more about dreams and how they can feel real.

She then asked, "What are dreams, Mommy?"

We'll save that one for another day. I am just happy we didn't end up in the ER getting X rays of her abdomen in search of 2 missing princesses.