Thunderstorms

Last night we had a string of thunderstorms roll through about 1am. The lightning woke me up, but I didn't hear anything from the kids. Both Mark and I were awake and more or less dozing when we had a really big thunderclap and I rolled over and said "That one's gonna be a problem..." at which point the crying started (not me ;)).

He got up and went in to the girls and I was in bed debating whether I needed to get up as well when we had a second really loud thunderclap that had me covering my ears--at which point Emily started screaming. I went in and took Emily from Mark who was sitting on Danielle's bed trying to comfort both of them (they sleep in the same room). Emily's not actually scared of the thunderstorms, but she really didn't like the thunder being that loud. Danielle, on the other hand, is scared of thunderstorms so it was all a bit more traumatic for her. I put Emily back to bed and sat with her and once Danielle was calmed down Mark went to check on the boys. Zhenya was still sleeping and Dima was awake but unconcerned, and by the time I went to check on him about 10 minutes later he was back asleep.

The best part was that we sat with the girls for about 15-20 minutes, during which time they were both willing and able to be comforted and then fell back asleep without any problems. That tells me that they feel safe and comfortable with us and that they are learning to trust that we are there to protect and comfort them. Those are all really good things for them to be learning! :)

I was really glad they were able to go back to sleep as Danielle and Zhenya have their first half-day today. Dima has another full day and Emily will be at preschool most of the day. And Mark will be tackling some projects around the house!