Matthew just groggily stumbled out to the dining room (where I’ve been working on my laptop, Kara – as named by the almost-four-year-old). He sleepily informed me, “I had a bad dream, Mommy.”

“Oh no,” I said, wrapping my arms around him. “What was it about?”

“The monster was using his Number gun to shoot the ABC bug.”

“Wow,” I replied (trying not to smile), “that sounds pretty scary.” But how happy am I? I thought. With preschool starting back up in a couple of weeks, it’s pretty great that his bad dreams are at least educational.