Our Stubborn Monster

Well, it's been three weeks since our green monster showed up. That first week was tough for Orin. The days following last time I posted were about the same. Orin was pretty much constantly consumed by worry. He was sleeping late - until 9 or later. And he didn't want to sit in a room alone. The hardest time seemed to be around sunset - knowing that it was getting dark. Normally he loves sunsets. He will get so excited when he sees the different colors in the sky and say, "Mommy, look at the sky, it's pink. My favorite color!" During the sunset one night he looked at the sky and stoically said, "Look, it's pink. That means it's getting dark." Then he told me that pink wasn't his favorite color any more and that he didn't like colors at all. Another day he said to me, "I want Jesus to come here now and take the monster and put it into a cave and roll a big stone in front of it so it can't come out." Obviously he got this because we had read the resurrection story a few weeks before. But after a few days (about a week after the monster originally came) Orin seemed to be doing better. He was happy more often than sad and was spending less time crying or worrying about the monster. He started wanting to watch TV again and playing his Leapster. Of course, it was always worse at night and at bed time. Orin has decided that cuddling helps. He's never been so cuddly. I LOVE it. We have a new bedtime routine until this all blows over. Last I wrote he was sleeping the the playroom in the tent Damien made. He decided a day or so later that it scared him, but he still wanted to stay in the playroom. So now we do our book and Bible reading in the den. Then Orin sits in the playroom chair until he falls asleep. If we even mention trying to sleep in his room he freaks out. After we read he wants me to sit in the chair and rock him. So I hold him and he just snuggles with me for as long as I stay. It's really nice. For a week Orin was doing really well. He almost didn't mention the monster at all. I asked him once if it had gone away and he told me he didn't want to talk about it. Unfortunately a couple of days later he started worrying again. And since Saturday he has been having difficulty. Monday and today he got really sad when I picked him up from school because he was scared to come home because the monster would come. He doesn't want to flush the toilet or other random loud things because he says the monster will come. However, he also seems to be using it as an excuse. "Mommy, I can't do my chore because it will make the monster come." Ok, so that makes it hard to tell when he's actually scared. So we're often trying to figure out when to comfort him and when to call him out. It's a new aspect of parenting for us but we're learning! I'm just hoping he's completely back to himself very soon.