It's like having a dog that slowly learns how to talk.

So maybe comparing kids to dogs is wrong, but Josh and I can't help but say that little quote from a Scrubs episode when we're discussing the boy's developing language skills.

The process is so fun.

A few weeks ago he started crying 20 minutes or so after we put him down. He had been waking up like that for the previous few nights... I usually check him and make sure everything is fine, then put him right back, even if he cries, so he doesn't get in the habit of staying up. But he is usually so great at going down at night- so I thought something must be going on. Teething maybe? I hadn't noticed any new teeth, but it was possible. So anyways, I decided to get him and bring him out so he could chill with Josh and I. We started talking to him and really trying to figure out what was wrong.
"Are you happy?"
"No."
"Are you sad?"
"Sad."
"What's wrong? Are you hungry"
"No."
"Is it freaky in your room?" (He knows freaky means scary-ish... we say freaky spider, freaky... I don't know what else we say it for but he knows what it means!)
"Freaky!"
"Are you freaked out?"
"Freaked out!"
He proceeded to say freaked out a million times. Or maybe like 15.
Then all on his own, he pointed to his room:
"Dark room!"

Ah! My heart melted. So cute and so sad. The boy is scared of the dark now. I just wanted to hug him forever when I heard that. We had a nightlight in the hallway and I moved it to his bedroom. I hadn't put a nightlight in there before because I thought it might keep him up at night. I took him back to his room and showed him the light that would be there so it wouldn't be so dark. Josh and I talked to him about what a safe and happy place his bedroom was.
I changed his diaper and he started pointing to everything in his room and saying it was happy.
"Happy wall. Happy ceiling. Happy pig. (He has a piggy bank) Happy bed."
Cutie!
The nightlight has worked wonders- he sleeps great now!