The monster under the bed

After months of Molly peacefully falling asleep (and staying asleep) after we say goodnight and tuck her in, she is now going through a bad sleeping phase.

It started a month ago. We'd put Molly to bed (she's graduated out of her crib and into a toddler bed) and had come back downstairs to settle into watching TV. Suddenly, and simultaneously, we both noticed some subtle movement in the darkened dining room and found Molly standing there under the table silently staring at us. Lemme tell you, the first time was really spooky.

Since then we've had a nightly struggle to get Molly to sleep. After several nights of her creeping down the stairs, we wised up and started putting a baby gate up in her door.

It turns out that part of the trouble is that Molly is having nightmares. The object of her nightly frights? Why, it's a creature so horrifying, so panic-inducing, so terribly terrifying, it's ...

Swiper the fox, from the "Dora the Explorer" TV show.

The funny cute thing about it is that Swiper is just about the least-malevolent antagonist imaginable. In every episode, see, Dora and her pal Boots the Monkey are accosted by Swiper, but his larcenous intentions are deftly parried by the utterance of "Swiper, no swiping!"

Swiper dejectedly says, "Oh, man!" and skulks away.

Molly's convinced lately that Swiper is hiding in her room, and when she wakes up in the middle of the night wailing, we have to do security sweeps under her bed and in the closet to assure her that she's safe from Swiper.

I can empathize, though. I can clearly remember being terrified that Darth Vader lived in our attic when I was a lot older than Molly is now.

Grandpa T. sent along this funny cartoon which rings true of Molly's bedtime stall tactics.