Ceiling Monsters

The other night after I had tucked E in bed I sat down and asked him if there was anything he wanted to talk to me about before he went to sleep. He stared up a the celling for a moment and then said, "The monster is going to eat the girl". I figured he was telling me a story (he is famous for making up stories! He loves to do it, and is actually very good at it.) so I asked him what happened next. He then pointed to the ceiling and said, "No Mama, the monster there, by the monkeys, is going to eat the girl!" I looked a the ceiling and realized that he was finding pictures on the ceiling, a pass-time that I have done with him a few times, but that he never quite seemed to grasp. I asked him to show me where, and he pointed, but I couldn't see it, so i went and got a chair so that I could hold him up to show me, and sure enough, there was a monster about to eat a smiling girl. This was actually quite a revelation because he has been coming out of his room crying at night lately because the monster is going to get him. Knowing from my own childhood that ceiling monsters (or scary faces in my case, and rabid rabbits coming out of a popcorn bags in Zach's case) can be quite unsettling I asked him if he wanted me to cover it up. He said yes, and continued to tell me that when he had his tent up it was better too because he couldn't see it. (side note again, we let him sleep in a pop-up tent as a reward for staying in his bed all night)So now there is a piece of paper on his ceiling, and we have a happy three year old.