God and Mommy

Bedtime for Jada has become a real ordeal.  She's pulling out all the stalling tactics I once used when I was a kid.  She gets weepy, clingy, desperate.  She'll cry for a good long time and require repeated interventions before she finally calms down and falls asleep.  Her erratic requests - needing a tissue, banishing a stuffed animal to outside the bedroom - are likely a front for nighttime fears she can't put into words. 

Enter God and Mommy.  Sometimes, I can get the right permutation of items in and out of her bedroom, such that she is sufficiently calmed for sleeping.  But often this week, it's taken Amy going in, reassuring her that she's safe, and praying to God to keep watch over her while she sleeps.  And the calming lilt of her Mommy's voice, and the thought - however primitive - that angels are watching over her, seem to do the trick. 

I've been told this is not unusual for kids Jada's age.  It's hard to see her struggle, especially since she needs that sleep so badly.  But I take comfort that there's always God and Mommy.