Spooked out

It's the hungry ghost month and P totally spooked me out yesterday night. She woke up at 1.00 AM and started fussing. She hasn't been wide awake after 9.00 PM for at least the past 6 months, so I thought the usual patting her back to sleep will work. Instead, she clambered on me and started crying hysterically instead. While crying, she kept pointing at my wardrobe area and wailed in fear. That was when she sent chills down my spine. Did she... see something that I didn't?

I managed to calm her down and she just laid next to me with her eyes wide open, sucking her thumb, and at times looking at the area behind me (I was facing her). This went on till 1.45 AM when hubby came home from his drinking session. Hubby switched on the lights and P happily played with him for awhile until he decided to go take a bath. Lights went off and her fearful crying came again.

Hubby came to bed and P remained awake. In fact, she refuses to lie down. She sat between us and started picking 'things' up using pincer grip. I reached out to her with my outstretched hands and she placed the 'things' on my palm. I was seriously worried by now, this was so NOT her. 3.30 AM, I decided she had enough of imaginary play, carried her and put her on my chest. She finally drifted off to sleep at about 4.00 AM. Super super tiring night for me and hubby, not to mention the spooky element for me.

It reminded me of a paragraph I saw online regarding fear in babies.

"Babies are unpredictable. In the early days of their lives they are like fearless, intrepid explorers. They go boldly into the great unknown. Then overnight these brave adventurers become scared of their own shadows. They develop the most irrational fears. They are scared of the most innocuous things. Sometimes you can't help but feel impatient when you see your child screaming hysterically at the sight of a dog or at the sound of the fire engine alarm. The whole thing seems inexplicable."

Yes, I really can't explain her weird behavior yesterday night.