Naughty Leprechaun

A naughty leprechaun paid a visit to Gracie's preschool yesterday on St. Patrick's day. The little dude made a big mess in the classroom, knocking over toys and things. He moved the teacher's chair, left green pee-pee in the toilet (and didn't flush!), spilled his gold on the floor (corn pops cereal) and left a trail of green glitter everywhere.  The kids did their teamwork and cleaned up the classroom.

Gracie is pretty sure she saw the leprechaun behind the clock in her classroom.  He had one eye peeking and the other one shut.  And, he was laughing at all the kids while they cleaned up his naughty mess! 

Poor kid was freaked out all day long by this leprechaun business.  All day long, she talked non-stop about the leprechaun.  She barely took a breath, just talk talk talk talk... working it all out in her head I suppose.

At night, she had trouble falling asleep. I had to lay with her and as soon as I did, she was asleep in no time.  She wanted to sleep in her "camping spot" next to my bed so that she would be safe.  And she made sure to ask me several times if I locked all of the doors.  She was afraid the leprechaun would come in our house and make a mess.

Sure enough, she whimpered and whined in her sleep all night long, like a little lost puppy.  At one point, her dreams woke her up. She went downstairs with Daddy and they rocked for a while.  But, she was having bad dreams all night even after she woke up. She was crying in her sleep too.  It's awful when your kid is having bad dreams and you know you can't get in her dream to rescue her! 

I just talk to her and tell her she is safe.  The whimpering usually stops when I do that, but she starts crying again. Sure enough, this morning she was a big grouch!  Miss Crabby pants has been rotten all day long. She wouldn't even snap out of her mood to go to gymnastics and she loves gymnastics!  She stayed home with Dad while I took little sis to gymnastics; she wasn't gonna miss it for the world!

I don't understand why she has such frequent bad dreams, but I sure knew what set her off this time!  It was that naughty leprechaun! If I catch that little green menace, I'm gonna make him clean up and say sorry.  Gracie suggests we give him a time out too.  So much for St Paddy's day around this house.  This holiday went straight to the bottom of the list of fun holidays. 

The next holiday is a rabbit who comes in our house at night while we are sleeping and leaves eggs and jelly beans?  Oh no.  There really isn't much of a difference is there?