the dark

Truett has recently started fearing the dark and being alone. He insists that the hall light needs to be on when he goes to sleep even though there is a night light in his room. When he wakes up in the middle of the night, he comes into our room and tries to sneak into our bed. One of us ends up taking him back to his room while he tells us that he is "too scared". The other night he came into our room on three separate occasions. We woke up that morning feeling like we were back to having a newborn again.
This was never an issue with Jem. We've always kept their rooms as dark as possible, hoping that the street lights and sunlight wouldn't keep them up or wake them early. Jem never asked for a nightlight and he also never got out of his bed. When he was a baby he climbed/fell out of his crib once and then never did it again.
But Truett has proven to be rather difficult to keep in a bed. And adding in his fear of the dark creates a new set of problems. The biggest issue for me is knowing when the fear is real and when he is simply looking for some extra attention. I remember sleeping with the hall light on growing up. I wanted my door open so that I could hear my parents downstairs and the light on so that I could still see. So I don't want to dismiss Tru's fears. But I also don't want to be getting up every single night at 3 am to put him back into his bed. Argh!!! Why don't kids come with manuals?

photo by: David Llopis  http://www.flickr.com/photos/davidllopis/3120882757/