Nightmares: Octopuses and Birthday Cake

For the past few nights, both kids have had trouble sleeping. The key wake-up time seems to be around 3:30 in the morning. Lovely, right?

First, my oldest. He came running into my bedroom saying that he had a dream about an octopus coming to get him. Not exactly sure where this one came from. We didn't watch any TV shows, talk about them or read anything about them recently. But he was pretty upset and it took awhile to calm him down. My husband and I told him that we're too far away from the ocean for an octopus to come and get him and even when we go to the beach they live really, really far out past the waves that he will never even see one. We told him the only ones he would ever see might be in an aquarium and even then, they are behind super special glass where they can't get out. (I also wanted to tell him that there's no way he'd make it here alive by taking I76 and Rt 422...but left that side-note out :) 15-20 minutes later, he's back asleep.

Next up, the younger one. No sooner do I get settled down into bed she starts calling for mommy. At this point, Lord knows what she's upset about. I get into her room and I can tell she's talking in her sleep. I ask her what's wrong and she say..."Birthday Cake". I asked her again because I wasn't sure I heard her right. She repeated "Birthday Cake". I did my best to keep my laughter to a minimum, pulled the covers up on her, kissed her head and told her she's ok and to go back to sleep.

Never a dull early-morning at my house!!!