When it's especially difficult to let them cry.

The last couple months, Sabrina either had a cold, nightmares or was teething the molars from hell, so she was waking up at night. As a result, one of us was up with her at least once (okay, it was usually Chris because I'm a hard sleeper and I might be a little bit lazy) and now she's created a habit of it.

There is nothing wrong. She's not hungry, or hurt, or having nightmares or cold or anything. She simply wakes up and thinks it would be nice if someone came and held her for a bit. Or maybe even brought her back to mommy & daddy's bed. Which is so much fun.

Clearly this is when we go back to sleep training and should let her fuss and make noise and put herself back to sleep. She is more than capable. We know this is a habit she's gotten into, that we have encouraged in our own way, and we need to be parents and fix it. By not going in there.

But there are a couple problems with that plan.

We just watched Paranormal Activity over the weekend. By watched, I mean I made it up until a certain point at which I deemed it the scariest motherfucking movie ever made and proceeded to "watch" the rest of it while hiding under a blanket and humming.

I love horror movies. I can watch them day and night, they never affect me. I sleep like a baby.

I didn't even watch most of this one and it has scared the living shit out of me, to the point I'm still not sleeping. I think the movie should be banned. It's that fucking scary.

So now when Sabrina wakes up and makes noise in the middle of the night, there are some new issues I have to contend with.

1) Is she fussing because she simply wants to be picked up? Or is there a demon black cloud hanging over her crib and shaking it violently? How do I know it's not a demon making her cry? Also? if I go in there, pick her up and hold her, how do I know the demon isn't right fucking there the entire time? I don't. It's a problem. A huge problem.

So my instinct is to check on her because well, hello, what kind of parent would I be if I just let a demon take over my 18 month old? Not a very good one, I'll tell you that.

My preference is that Chris gets up and takes one for the team. Which he did last night, but then promptly fell back to sleep and she wasn't done with her fussing. So I had to go in. Petrified, I had to get up, walk down the hall and go into her room. Then, while holding her, I constantly scanned the room for signs of the demon.

2) My second problem is that I just don't think it's a good idea to wander around in the middle of the night if there is perhaps a demon residing somewhere in the house, so I seriously consider letting her cry for my own safety. I'll admit it, I'm not perfect (was there any doubt?). That movie has literally paralyzed me with fear.

How do we reconcile sleep training with this new development in our lives? It's difficult to say the least.