Brandon Gilbert

A few months ago, I wrote about Ryne smiling in his sleep, and guessing what kind of dreams he would be having, given such limited life experience. Apparently he can have nightmares, too. Jamie and I discovered this a few weeks ago, but he seemed to have another one today, so it refreshed my memory.

He was taking a nap and sleeping very soundly when he was jarred awake screaming like, well, someone who’s having a nightmare. I picked him up, and it was hard to console him. He just kept screaming until I made him look into my face so he could realize that Daddy had him and he was safe, that he wasn’t still in the nightmare. It was rough watching him be so scared, and if I never see that look in his eye again, I will be a very happy man.

Once again, I’m left to wonder what his limited life experience has given him to be able to have nightmares about. He’s had five months to gain experience, and it makes me wonder if I’ve allowed some kind of terror to get to him to allow him fodder for nightmares.

I myself have a recurring nightmare. It started during my last year of college. It’s always basically the same: It’s the last day of the semester and I have to take my final in a class and I realize that I haven’t gone to the class all semester. Sometimes it’s bad because I don’t know any of the information for the final exam, and sometimes it would be bad because I had missed all the other assignments to turn in, so no matter how I did, I couldn’t pass the class. Still other times, it would be that I had no chance because I had already missed too many days. I most recently had this dream a couple of weeks ago, and I’ve been out of college for six years now.

My recurring nightmare is a result of a last year of college spent helping to plan a wedding, working 40 hours a week and taking 18 hours (6 classes) in school. That’s a lot of stress on a person mentally and emotionally, and I will be honest, I didn’t handle it very well. But still, that’s 23-28 years of life experience going into my nightmares….Ryne has had 5 months on this Earth. So I thought really hard, and came up with a list of things he could possibly have nightmares about.

1. Lack of milk: He’s really hungry and he’s lying in the floor. He sees bottles everywhere he looks, but they’re all empty. And Mommy, his first choice is nowhere to be found either.
2. Falling: Ryne has recently learned to roll over. If you think about it, this act takes a lot of faith. You’re facing one way, and then you decide to roll in another direction. You have to be certain that whichever way you go, there’s going to be something to hold you up. Maybe he’s dreaming that when he rolls over, he falls off the edge of the Earth.

3. Being stuck in a shirt: One of the things Ryne hates is when you put a shirt on over his head. Once it’s on, he has no problem with it, but while it’s going over his head, he looks kinda nervous. Maybe he’s thinking about being trapped in a shirt with no way out.
4. His “friend” is gone: One of Ryne’s best friends is “Jimmy,” a stuffed
giraffe. He loves Jimmy. He gives him hugs, and likes to chew on his
ears. Maybe Ryne is dreaming that he’s searching for Jimmy, but he
can’t find him.
5. Mommy and Daddy are gone: I imagine that the worst source of  a nightmare for Ryne would be that he’s crying in his crib, and no one comes. He can’t get what he needs by himself, so his only way to let us know is to cry. And if he cries and no one is there to answer, I imagine that to be the loneliest, worst feeling in the world.

Now that I think about it, there is quite a bit of stuff for him to have nightmares about. One thing is for sure, though. When he cries, Mommy or Daddy is going to be there. No matter how groggy or how bad our bed head is…we’ll be there.

Do you have any ideas on what babies would have nightmares about or do you have a recurring dream or nightmare? Leave a comment at the top and tell us all about it.