tigers, oh my!

No, we did not see a tiger at the zoo recently. They were there; we just didn't see them.

However, I was awakened last night by a loud noise. At first my dull-barely-cognizant brain was having a hard time recognizing the sound as I awakend from the fog of sleep. But, I finally realized it was Shannon screaming. I immediately started to rise, and I realized he was running at roadrunner speed down the hall. By the time I was even partially up, he was in our room. I pulled him up, and we attempted to quiet him--which took some doing. In both of our minds was a dread that he had vomited, given Jack's recent (and ongoing) struggle with a stomach bug.

Sean: "What's wrong, bud?"

Shannon, still half scream-crying: "There's a tiger in Shannon's room! Tiger eat Shannon's leg!"

Poor kid. Although, while comforting my terrified child, there was a little part of me that giggled inside. We let him lay in bed with us for awhile, to get his heart-rate back to normal. He's had other nightmares before, but rarely, and they generally only resulted in a half awake cry.

I eventually told him we needed to go back to his room. I told him I'd take him and we'd make sure there were no tigers. It was so cute. He had me look in the dining room and living room. When we looked in his room, he said, "There's no tigers in there!" in a very happy voice.

I laid him in his bed and brought in reinforcements: his puppy and bear. Then, I suggested he dream about climbing a tree with Curious George or maybe even riding in a hot air balloon.

"No, I ride bike," he said.

As I'm leaving the room, he says, "I dream about Percy, mama."

"Okay. Are you going to help Percy deliver the mail?" I ask.

"No. I go to station and get coal," he replies.

And then he's off to sleep.