Keeping the Darkness at Bay

Lets talk about the Little Princess. She is so funny and she amazes me every day. The last week or so, I have found that her understanding of things is jumping by leaps and bounds. She can go and get herself snacks out of the kitchen or clothes she wants to wear now!

Sometimes the things she says makes me a little sad for her. Yesterday, she was sitting on the floor, papers and crayons scattered all around her. She picked up the black crayon and started to draw and said to me, "I am scared of the dark." I looked at her and said, "I know baby". After she was done her picture, she picked it up to show me. It was a page filled with black scribbles. I looked at her and smiled and said, "That is really nice baby, what is it?" To which she replied, "This is a picture of scared." I asked, "Scared?" and she said, "yes, this is me scared of the dark". My heart broke a little then. My poor baby.

Last night, when she was sleeping, I heard her start to cry suddenly, very hard. I went into her room and she was in bed, still mostly sleeping, sobbing. I climbed onto her bed, and lay down beside her, rubbing her back and soothing her with softly spoken words. She went right back to sleep. I hate that she has nightmares. I hate that ever since the hurricane, when she was 20 months old, she has been terrified of the dark. I hate that anything bad and dark and black exists in her little world. I never thought darkness would encroach on her world at such a young age. I hate that I can't protect her from it. She is only 3 1/2. I would love for her world to be sunshine and happiness all the time. She is normally such a happy musical child, I just wish I could keep the darkness at bay.