So some of the new things include leaving the bathroom light on, leaving the fireplace stove on (it has a loud fan that is usually on when she goes to bed, so it drowns out the house creaking noises that are so frequent in winter), but I can't exactly afford to heat the whole house all night.
But the things that have
helped the most are consistency on my part: sitting with her and rubbing her back for a few minutes each time she gets up, and reminding her she is safe. We also talked a few times during the day about how monsters aren't real and shadows are just shadows. She understands these things, but it doesn't make them any less scary. So we decided to make some Keep Out signs to hang on her door. They seem to help, along with everything else, a little bit.
In this drawing, you'll notice our house is protected by a ring of fire. This should help keep any scary things at bay.
Here we can see that any imaginary monsters that get close will get fished out with this monster-nabbing fishing pole.
Any potential scary beings approaching Maddie's room will get tossed into this lake of nearly freezing cold water!
Monsters may also get pelted with ice cubes with fire inside if they get too close!
I helped with the spelling and the drawing of ice cubes, but she pretty much came up with all these ideas on her own. She has a very vivid imagination (as you can see!) and I know this is a part of her growing up, but it's hard to see her so scared sometimes knowing there's not much I can say or do to help. But all these little bits have been adding up to help my little girl sleep better at night. She's only with me a few nights a week but she has fewer and fewer wakings each time.
