The day finally came. The one I was dreading. Jason Jr. who is two-and-a-half climbed out of his crib. The crib that makes mommies’ lives so much easier. The crib that keeps a child confined and bored long enough to fall asleep. The crib that insures a child is safely contained so that moms can take naps and such. Gone. Those times are gone. I was forced to take his mattress out and put it on the floor as we haven’t another bed in the house. Clearly, I was hoping he would stay in his crib another year, or two, or three!
The poor boy was petrified to sleep on the floor by himself. He finally let me go if I would leave the light on. I tiptoed into his room before I went to sleep and turned the light off. At three in the morning he began all-out screaming. Not the fussy, whiny kind of screaming, but the screaming that lets any mom know her child is genuinely frightened. I went up to his room and tucked him back in his crib, but every time I started to leave, he would cry. Actually, he didn’t just cry; he was shaking. So I slept on the floor by his mattress.
The next day at nap time he wouldn’t let me turn the light off. He kept pointing to the window and saying, “Scary.” Then he’d say, “Scary tiger.” I tried to reassure him that there were no scary tigers in his room, but he did not believe me. There is a tree outside next to the window, so I showed him that the noise he heard was just the tree in the wind. It was a windy day and the tree really was making a lot of racket, so I gave in and let him out of his room.
Last night, however, it was incredibly windy and the noises coming from outside were enough to scare a grown man. Little Jason, bless his heart, was finally able to fall asleep again with the light on. My husband woke up in the middle of the night, disturbed by all the scratching and eerie sounds coming from the baby monitor, and went up to check on him, inadvertently waking him up. He said it sounded like someone was trying to break in the window. He lay down on the floor beside our toddler, but the noises coming from the windows conjured up images from all kinds of horror movies. He couldn’t take it.
So my husband got up, (Are you ready for this?) put his shoes on, grabbed his ladder and saw, and went to work on the offending branches …at 4:00 in the morning! It’s a wonder someone didn’t see him and call the police. It’s a wonder that I didn’t wake up and call the police myself! I’m still laughing at the thought of him out there sawing in the middle of the night. Yep, it’s just those mad people at the Irish house!
Ever since Daddy got rid of the scary branches our little boy has been no trouble at all. There has been no more screaming. Poor little kid, he was just scared to death!

LOL!I can so see Brian doing that, too. Those Irish men always come up with a solution. Sometimes in the funniest way. =) Glad little Jason can sleep now, poor boy.
Hey, we have an extra toddler bed right now if you want to borrow it. It’s red and metal. We won’t need it back for a year or so. Just comment or e-mail me back and let me know!
Don’t blame him. After living alone for as long as I Have, and now being with my dad for a while, whenever I hear him get up to make a hot drink in the middle of the night I think we have unwelcome visitors…
Too funny! I can see him out there sawing away. Does your husband murmur, “I suppose she’s going to blog about this….” lol. The only thing that could have made this post better, is a picture that you took of him outside at 4:00 a.m. cutting off the branch!! lol!!
Wow! Tell your husband good job for me! That’s what a super-hero daddy does — take care of his family no matter what time of day or night. That’s awesome.
Wow that baby knew something was wrong. Glad you found out. I do remember the dreaded day of when they are free of the crib.
So very sad that was happening, but awesome Daddy stepped in.
Wow! What a dad will do for his kids. My dad would probably have done the same thing.
We must have the same tree in our yard! Ours liked to scratch up and down the side of my bathroom window. While it doesn’t always wake me up, I have had some CRAZY dreams. I am impressed with such a “take charge” husband. I can promise mine would not have been out there at 4 am. Congrats on the newly sleeping child and the elimination of the tree noise!
Awww, poor little Jason! I remember being scared about something like that as a small child. That is so sweet of your hubby to take care of the tree 🙂
Poor little guy, glad his Daddy took care of the offending tree branches!
Daddy to the rescue! Love this. 🙂
Poor fella! Sounds like he has an awesome Daddy!
How sweet! Glad everything worked out.
Omigosh, Daddy the hero. I think he needs a cape and an outfit that has a big ole SD (Super Dad obviously). Oh, and a mask too…..just for extra coolness. LOL. Good job Daddy-O! ~Cheryl from WAHM Solution
What a great dad! I agree with the above “super hero” comment!
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Blessings!
~Lisa
Oh, what a wonderful story! I love it. If I was a neighbor, I totally would have been wondering what was going on! But that’s so great that he did that for your little boy. ~ Leanne from the WAHM Solution
Aw, poor little Jason. Sounds like Daddy was just being awesome! Ironically, Kaia was up a lot a few nights ago and the next morning I asked her how her night was and she said, “I had a lot of troubles. My imaginary friend Tiger was keeping me awake, so I had to move him. He was just a shadow.” I had to laugh again when I read about Jason’s tiger too!
That’s something I can imagine my husband doing! You know, the scratching tree branches really do still scare me. I can see how the kids get worried.
When my kids were about that age, they started being afraid of “monsters,” so I made a monster spray to scare them away (it was really just plain water in a spray bottle, but the girls didn’t know that- you could even include some scent if you want to make it really special). Each night at bed time, the kids would take a turn spraying the “monster spray” just two squirts is all you need), around the bedroom. It helped them sleep, and it was a fun little ritual.
I hope you have a great weekend! I’m stopping by from The Blog Frog.
Bless his little heart! I know how that is. I remember making my dad check under my bed for bears for YEARS! I’m cracking up thinking about your Hubby cutting branches out of the tree at 4 a.m. I sure am glad he didn’t fall out of the offending tree. Glad all is well without the brances.
A true labor of love!
So glad we figured out what was terrifying him!