A very bad dream

"I had a very bad dream," Maia said.

We were in our hotel room on the Big Island. We had gone there for a vacation before school. It was 3am. Maia was in one of the two double beds, Kristina and I were in the other. It was Tuesday morning, July 26th. I was awake because I had gotten up at about 1am to do a work project and had just gotten back into bed.

"What happened?" I asked.

"We were at a shopping center. I know this was a dream. I ate a cookie. It had a soft center. And Mommy got mad at me. And I know this was a dream," she repeated, in a very low voice, "but Mommy got a knife and she was walking really fast at me."

"She was chasing you?"

:"Yes," she said. "And I ranned away..."

"Ran away"

"but she chased me. And then you took me away."

"Did it frighten you?"

"Yes."

"Well," I said, ""it was just a dream, Sweetie. It wasn't real. Mommy wouldn't do that."

She was quiet for a while.

"Will you sleep by my?"

"Yes," I said, moving to her bed. But neither of us could sleep.

"Do you want to paly Connect-4?"

"Sure," I said, and we played Connect-4 for a while.

"Do you want to go outside to the pool?"

"Sure," I said, So we went outside, and walked out to the far end of the pool and then onto the path by the shore. That path took us to a golf course next door. We marvelled at the fine, knitted surface of the greens.

We headed back upstairs and to our room. It was about 6am.

Kristina stirred as we entered. I explained that Maia had had a bad dream, and I told her what the dream was.

The two of them fell asleep together for about two hours. The pic above is of that.

Later in the day, I joked about Mommy getting out her knives at one point when Maia was resisting doing something. Later in the day Maia told a joke about Mommy and her knives. I think that's going to be a motif for releasing stress.

Maia and Kristina have such a complicated relationship. It's always Kristina that Maia wants when she needs help or reassurance. But Kristina is also the main disciplinarian and that's always an undercurrent of their relationship.