What The Eye Wants

It used to be the hall light. Micah had to have the hall light on to go to sleep, because apparently he's afraid of the dark. Daddy tried valiantly to fight that battle and invested in several night lights in an effort to gain the upper hand. One night light cast rays of light that freaked him out, another was different colors that just weren't acceptable, and after that Micah simply unplugged anything else that was plugged in. I know. It's ironic since he's not keen on the dark and all.

Then it was Josh's bedroom light, just across the hall from where Luke and Micah sleep. Both the hall light and Josh's bedroom light had to be on in order for Micah to feel safe enough for sleep. I figured one bulb or two, lights were on regardless, so there wasn't much difference. And it put Micah to sleep, which is always a good thing.

The closet was next. Both closet doors had to be closed, and closed the whole way. Not a crack could be shown. Micah double checked. What is the boy afraid of? The worst he watches on screen is Scooby Doo. After the closet, he started sleeping with toys. Woody, the Veggie Tales gang, you name it. He currently has a stack in bed so big that it's like another person in bed with him.

Last night he started with his eye. I'm clueless. He pried his wee eye open with the fingers of one hand and pointed to the eyeball with the other hand. Eye drops made sense to me, but the minute I produced a bottle of them his look and tone clearly said, "Woman, you're not getting near me with those things!" So he went to bed without whatever it was his eye needed.

Tonight, after turning on lights, closing closet doors, and amassing friendly toys, his eye was in need again. I asked him to show me what he wanted. He gladly jumped out of bed and ran downstairs to the toy box where he dug and dug and dug. More fun toys were put into a drawstring bag, but he never did find what he was looking for. He was glad, however, for the pirate eye patch I showed him. He wore it to bed as well. But it was clear that he never found what he was looking for.

I'm now torn between just making him go to bed because I said it's bedtime, or allowing him an extra 15 minutes nightly to find what his eye is in need of. Mostly because I'm curious. It's one of those mysteries that the world may never solve.