Solutions

Call me Mother of the Year.

Like many of the four-year-old set, Peanut has a mighty fear of loud noises. Particularly train whistles that sound in the middle of the night and thunder. It should be noted that Doggy Luke shares these fears, so nighttime and thunderstorms can be fairly interesting. If you're not me.

Peanut, to Boomer's and my dismay, has an alarming habit of showing up in our room multiple times between 2:00 and 4:00 in the morning, pointing out his fears and requesting our assistance in going back to bed. Preferably our bed. This won't work for a couple reasons. First, Boomer is not the smallest man in the universe and has a habit of taking over an entire queen-size bed. Second, Peanut is his father's son, with the added bonus of kicking all and sundry in his sleep. We've come up with a compromise: Peanut can come to our doorway, state his fear, and go back to bed, and Boomer and I can go to sleep in peace. In the event that we don't hear him, Peanut makes a nest of throw pillows and crashes until one of us realizes what he's up to.

Today being full of thunderstorms, both Peanut and Doggy Luke have been concerned. Okay, Peanut's concerned and Doggy is scared out of his mind. So they're both cowering around me. Peanut's on my lap, and Doggy Luke is trying to fit there too. Not happening. I tell Peanut that thunder, like train whistles, is just a noise that can't hurt him. Peanut's solution: "well, we can just share the fruit!" And we're off to the next subject. And then Boomer came home. And all is well.

Call me Mother of the Year.