MONSTERS!

Here is the story on the monsters. About a month ago Willie and I heard a crash from somewhere in the house. We didn't really care to check it out because it was late and we were a bit sleepy. In the morning we found the something had fallen in the boys' closet and it knocked the vacuum out of the closet. Over the next few weeks Parker kept waking up with nightmares and monsters. He told Willie one Sunday that "the monsters are coming for Parker." We called my sister up to find out how to handle the situation. She suggested a 'monster spray.' We gave it a try by putting water in a spray bottle and making a special spray. Parker didn't mind spraying everything in the house. The monsters didn't go away though. This idea I think works on older children. We noticed that Parker kept pulling the 'monster' out on us. We gave him so much attention that it was working against us.
P-man slept in our bed a few nights in a row and that just had to stop. He doesn't sleep in his bed anymore. He has chosen to sleep in our second pack-n-play. We decided to sing the monster to sleep. We sing 'I'm a Child of God' to the monster because that's what we sing when the boys go to bed. It works on occasion. The most recent success has been the "patula" = "spatula." Willie takes it in the boys' room and Parker points out where the monster is and Willie hit him. Near the beginning we tried saying prayers to ask for protection through the night. This works on occasion as well.
Just yesterday I saw Parker holding a puff out and saying 'here you go monster'. He was trying to feed the monster Lincoln's puffs. I told Parker that he was so nice to give the monster food. When we brush our teeth the monster will come and we put Parker up on the counter to brush his teeth. We know that Parker is using the monster as an excuse to get up on the counter. We try to put him up before he can mention the monster. I think this monster will be a part of our lives for awhile.