Over
the last several months our son’s obsession with Mickey Mouse has slowly
intensified. It has gotten to the point that we have to be careful when walking
around stores so that items featuring the Disney icon are not in his direct
line of sight. While he doesn’t always reach for the red and black rodent,
there have been times when all of his intense attention is focused on this
particular character. That being said, Pluto also elicits a similar response on
the rare occasions when he sees something with that character on it.
In
addition to the small collection of books that we have amassed over the past
year (and we have read many of those small books over and over and over and
over again), we have also adorned his bedroom with wall decals of all the
Mickey Mouse clubhouse cast of characters and they were a bit of a distraction
during the first few nights they were up, we have taught him that they go to
sleep when we put him down. This usually results in our son waving to each of
them as we carry him across the room first to get his nightly story ready to him
and then to his bed to go to sleep. He has gotten used to seeing them and he no
longer tries to engage them in conversation. But…
A
few weeks ago we made the mistake of putting his Mickey Mouse stuffed animal in
the crib with him when we put him down for the night. While it seemed like he
was having a great time, the problem was that he didn’t go to sleep until hours
after we put him down. He may have been happy at the time but he was absolutely
miserable in the morning and grumpy the entire day… sounds like daddy when he
doesn’t get enough quality sleep. Obviously, that was the first and last time
that we let him bunk down with Mickey.
However,
since then he has become quite chatty in the middle of the night no matter what
fluffy friend he has sleeping with him. In fact, there have been countless
occasions since then when we have heard him talking with Bear Frog in the
middle of the night. Seems as though he may have had to talk through a dream he
just had. And then there are the other times when the cuddly creatures seemed
to have said something out of turn and end up being punched in the face and/or
thrown across the crib.
Of
course, sometimes this happens more out of frustration as lately the crib has
become a lot smaller given his recent growth spurts. We can’t do much about it as
this is just one of the phases that will come and go over time. Like the many different
situation prior, this one is both amusing and frustrating depending on the
night. In the end, it will definitely be interesting to see how his fascination
with Mickey Mouse evolves over time and whether he will continue to hold court in
the middle of the night. Like many things, only time will tell.
