Spooked

My little Noah has started getting a little spooked at night. It all started on the 4th of July. We met all of our neighbors in the center of our cul-de-sac with drinks and lawn chairs to talk and watch the neighborhood fireworks. All the kids ran around, played basketball and rode their bikes. Sam was fond of crawling on the pavement (seemed like it would hurt but he didn't seem to notice). Once the fireworks started up Noah came over to sit in Ben's lap. He said he liked the fireworks, but he started acting overly concerned about Sam not wanting to hear the fireworks (Sam was completely oblivious to the sparklers and was happy as a clam crawling on the ground). So we think he was projecting. Anyway, when we came inside to go to bed Noah insisted on me cuddling him until he fell asleep. He was so spooked - very sad. The problem is that every night now he grabs me when I try to say goodnight and says "No, you stay here. You cuddle me." When he adds a frantic, "Please! Please!" it's just too sad to say no. So if anyone has any tips on how to un-spook a little boy, I'm all ears.

Speaking of Noah and cuddling, yesterday Ben was cuddling with him before nap and Ben started to doze off. A minute later he was awakened by Noah poking him in the arm, saying, "Hey, Daddy. You go to your bed. And say 'hi' to Mama."

A couple of other things he's been saying a lot lately:

"I'm so proud of you." He says this a lot. My favorite time he said this was a few weeks ago after he'd had a completely embarassing public meltdown at the food court in the mall. He finally calmed down and started eating his lunch. Mid-bite, he turned to me with the cutest expression on his face and said, "Hey!! I'm not sad anymore! I'm happy now!" and then, "I'm so proud of you, Mama." Like he was so pleased with the way I handled his meltdown.

"I love my boys." He'll say this when we're all snuggling on the couch or something.

He also likes to point out opposites. Like in the meltdown story above ("I'm not sad - I'm happy!") or he'll say things like, "It's hot. And it's not really cold" or "That's loud. But it's not really quiet."

Funny, funny boy.