Spider

Tom started this game with Layla where he makes his hand into a pretend spider and one of his fingers is the head that talks to her and so on. It is a HUGE source of entertainment to Layla and she is always asking "where is spider" before or after naps/bedtime/sitting in a chair etc.

Today I pretended that spider got caught in my hair so I was saying "help help!" Layla was still lying in bed at this point and she popped up and said "I be Jesus and help." So she pulled my hand/spider out of my hair and cuddled with it stroking my arm with her other hand saying "Jesus goes like this". Then she babbled on some more about all this and said that Jesus comes in and checks on her.

All this talk about Jesus helping at night started when she was having really big nightmares after our trip in November and waking up crying with bad dreams several times a night. I have heard that kids can have a very real relationship with God and see him and talk with him etc but that we as adults can slowly erode that. So we've tried to be very clear that God/Jesus can talk to us and hug us and hold us when we are scared. Over the past few months she's talked several times about Jesus holding her and rocking her when she's scared. So who knows, but it is precious nonetheless and far be it from me to determine what her actual experience is.....