Two-year-old Tricks

I love how a problem that starts out as legitimate becomes a new mode for manipulation in the toddler world.

I recently wrote about Michael's new fears in Almost Supernatural and I can say that there are definitely times when he is truly scared because his imagination is getting the better of him (or our house is intermittently haunted?). Then there are the OTHER times when he just doesn't want to go to sleep and there is all kinds of wailing and gnashing of teeth to see if he can get me to read another story, stay in his room, let him empty a dresser drawer, etc.

After some reading (mostly to calm my OWN fears-- monsters are fine but I am not keen on anything ghost related and yes it does freak me out and yes, you can go ahead and laugh), it seems that some of this monster-business is related to the fact that Michael doesn't want to be separated from us. This is all very typical for his age. So I am trying a few things, for example staying upstairs but not in his room for maybe 10 minutes so he knows that I am close by. Also, if he gets out of his crib, I warn him that I am going downstairs and if he doesn't get back in, I follow through and go downstairs. He usually whines/screeches for a couple of minutes and then settles back down.

I think he knows that I don't like to see him afraid because he is starting to use the fear factor to his advantage. So until he realizes that it's the mention of the "girl" not the monsters that gets to me, it seems my approach is working.

*One benefit of the extra time upstairs is that our laundry is getting put away in a very timely manner so at least something productive is happening*