Things that go bump in the night

Our poor little Nicholas. After several episodes worthy of a horror movie and a little research on my part, we have learned that Nicky is suffering from night terrors. My mother in-law gave us some things to try, because she remembered that Joseph (the second Alexander child) had the same problem when he was little. She told us to get him out of bed, take him to a room where the light is on, and try to wake him up completely. We did this a few times over the course of the next few months, and it seemed to be a somewhat effective solution...until last night, that is.

I was checking my e-mail, and I heard Nicholas start shuffling around in his bed and whimpering. I thought he was going to go back to sleep until he suddenly let out a bloodcurdling scream. I jumped up and ran into his room to find him shaking and crying hysterically. When I tried to pick him up, he cowered in the corner of his bed and was swinging his arms at me like he wanted to hit me. Finally, I just grabbed him, went into the closet, and turned on the light. His eyes were open, he was looking at me, and he was talking (kind of), but he didn't seem to be awake. I couldn't calm him down. After a couple of minutes with no positive results, I went into our bedroom, turned the light on, and called for Nathan. I figured Daddy might have some success where I didn't. Nicholas seemed to be even more frantic when Nathan picked him up and started talking to him. He started hitting Nathan and yelling about "a man" he had seen. He wasn't really speaking English and he was flailing his arms, so Nathan finally just put him down. We watched in stunned silence as Nicky made four laps around the living room, just running silently in a circle. Then, he headed for his room, stood by his bed and held up his arms. Nathan put him back in bed, covered him up, and he went back to sleep with no problem. I didn't hear another peep out of him all night.

I've never seen a possessed person, other than one portrayed in a movie, but I would imagine that watching someone that was possessed would come very close to what I saw last night. It takes a lot to freak me out. I love scary movies; I watch lots of them, and they don't usually affect me. I was truly freaked out when I saw my son's behavior last night. He was wide-eyed and speaking in tongues - the stuff nightmares are made of. I was waiting for his head to start spinning or something.

A few things I've learned about night terrors:

• They usually affect children between the ages of 3 and 12.
• They typically occur in the first third of the night (two to three hours after bedtime)
• The child does not remember anything about the event.
• The child becomes agitated or violent if awakened.
• As the brain develops and sleep patterns mature, most every child outgrows them.

The more we read, the more we knew that all of these things applied to Nicky. What to do? Well, according to all the information we saw (reputable medical websites only), we shouldn't do anything! The best thing to do when a child is having a night terror episode is just to leave him alone (but make sure he doesn't hurt himself). Supposedly, intervention just prolongs it all, and it can be more traumatic to the child. It's nice to know that we've been doing the wrong thing this whole time. It's also nice to know that when my kid is going through this, my job is to sit in the other room and helplessly listen to him screaming his head off as though he is being murdered. Fun, fun, fun.

I hope this phase passes quickly, because it's pretty disturbing. I almost wanted to get it on video last night so other people could see how freaky it was. Scary stuff.