Nathaniel

Nathaniel, Sock Monkey, and Boopas (from whom Nathaniel received Sock Monkey).
Nathaniel - expressing his thoughts and feelings no doubt (he keeps it up throughout the school day).

Last week during our spring break Nathaniel came down with the stomach flu. He didn't eat anything except half a cup of applesauce for about 24 hours. He was miserable. He kept asking if this meant we couldn't go on our planned beach-camping trip. I'm sorry, but can you imagine a kid with the flu in a tent 5 campsites away from the bathrooms? Poor kid. He felt miserable.

At the end of the second day he was starting to feel better, and he was starving. He wolfed down a package of yaki soba noodles in chicken broth (like top ramen but not pre-fried in oil). I fear it was too much for his tummy. That night he woke up with stomach cramps. We spent some time in the bathroom where he cried because he COULDN'T throw up. He was strangely upset and kept dropping down to the ground as we walked down the hall to put him back to bed. In bed he was shaking. Finally he told me that he had dreamed his stomach exploded and destroyed the world. He was actually afraid it would happen and didn't want to go back to sleep and dream it again. We got out his sock monkey for comfort and I rubbed his cheek for awhile as he relaxed and was ready to go back to sleep.

The next morning he was feeling much better and came into our room to describe how he avoided having the same nightmare. In the dream the earth was made of clay and it is totally destroyed when his stomach explodes. Instead of letting that happen, in his dream, Nathaniel said, "Monkey, monkey, monkey," and a floating version of his sock monkey appeared to save the day. Nathaniel described the whole dream in detail and there were many video game aspects to it. He consciously chooses items to intervene with whatever problem is presented in the dream. I don't remember all the details, there were many, and they were a bit confusing, being from a dream.

Nathaniel has a talent for describing how he feels and what he thinks it means. It is a big help to him at school because teachers find it endearing. It is helpful to me because it teaches me about what he needs and brings me into check when I'm on a "because I told you so" rampage.