The Tomten

Dash & I have been reading The Tomten lately before bed. It's the story of a little red-hatted gnome who takes care of all of the residents on a farm at night. He speaks a silent language that only animals & children can understand. In the book, the Tomten visits the sleeping children in their room, just to check on them.

Well. That was exactly the perfect way to scare the shit out of Dash. We literally had to make a phone call to the Tomten to ask him not to pay any more visits to Dash's room while he's sleeping.

Dash is so funny about the things that scare him (and the list is long). Although he makes it very clear that he wants no part of Santa or the Tomten or the monsters in There's a Nightmare In My Closet, he becomes simultaneously obsessed. He does this delicate dance between repulsion and embrace. He can't stop reading about the things that scare him, and even insists on bringing the books to bed with him. But then we have to make late-night calls to assorted mythological creatures to explain to them that, although we know they are kind and generous and protective, Dash would rather they stay outside his room while he sleeps.