I woke up at 2am today and decided to do some work. In the midddle of my efforts, it seems that the company servers went down so I decided to research a toddler behavior that has been causing me to scratch my head at 3am at least once a week.
My office is right next to Dally's room and I just heard him wake up. This isn't an isolated incident - like I said. It probably happens once a week. He'll wake up around 3am and start laughing and chatting. Sometimes he'll jump on the bed or do sprints back and forth. (One of the many joys of a big boy bed is a longer track.)
I googled "Toddler wakes up laughing" and I got all these hits for night terrors, so I started looking into night terrors. This is my recommendation for new moms: look this up because when you wake up one night to the terrifying screams of your little beloved you'll know what the hell is going on when they don't seem to recognize you or cannot be soothed. Apparently, it's some weird-ass dream state akin to sleep walking, but clearly a lot freakier.
Seriously, LOOK THIS UP.
The general (Internet) consensus is that you should make sure the little dude can't hurt himself but don't try to talk to him or comfort him. At best, he won't recognize you and at worst, you'll scare him even more. These episodes can last from a few minutes to a half hour or more.
Dally has definitely experienced this. When I'd rush in to rescue him, he was like a zombie and nothing I did would make him feel better until he was totally awake and I was exhausted. Fortunately, that hasn't happened in a while and now I know to just let him work it out on his own.
I couldn't find anything about laughing. I think he's currently in a phase enjoying the opposite of night terrors - night glee.
Research period is over and servers are still down. I'm going to bed now.
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