There is a monster living under Erin's bed

A monster has moved into our house. It happened while we were in California. I have yet to see this monster, but Erin is POSITIVE that it lives in her bedroom. A pink monster in fact. And she also told me that "the monster eats girls. He doesn't eat boys...but he eats girls."


We got back from California last night and the girls crashed that night without any problem. Today when I went to put Erin down for her nap she was hysterical about it! She clung to my neck for dear life and was shaking because she was so scared. She insisted that he was living under her bed. So while Erin waited safely outside the bedroom, I went in and looked under the bed - I even moved the storage tubs out to do a thorough check. No monster. I brought Erin in and we looked together under the bed. No monster. Just to be on the safe side, we also checked behind the chair, under the dresser, in the closet, and under Elaina's bed. Definitely No monster. But Erin was still certain that there was a monster under her bed. So she slept in my room and felt absolutely fine in there.

Tonight she still insists that there is a monster in her room. I checked all the hiding spots again and still found no monster. It is now 10:43pm and for the past 2 1/2 hours Erin has been coming in and out of her room insisting that there is a monster in her room. She genuinely believes in these monsters (it is not just a stalling tactic). She has been shaking, crying, and clinging to us tonight trying to avoid them. It makes me so sad to see her so terrified.

Whenever we kill one another one seems to appear. At one point in the night it apparently came out and Erin hit it in the nose and he bit her foot. Later she asked Daddy to go in and kill the monster, and so he took a foam nerf sword and attacked the monster...and won. We heard the entire fight from the living room (Mike put on a great show!). He came out and announced that the monster was dead. But two minutes later Erin was back out again to say that another one had come. Erin described this one like this: "he looks like the guy in Enchanted who says "I'm supposed to eat you!" She asked me: "Mommy, while I hide on this chair (in the living room) can you fight him Mommy? Can you?" So I went in to fight the monster, checked to make sure there were no more, and assured her that the room was monster-free.


Friday Morning Update: Erin finally crashed in her bed (still insisting that there was a monster, but exhausted) at 11:30. Sometime in the middle of the night she woke up to go to the bathroom and came in to tell me that there was still a monster in her room and she was scared. I managed to get her back in bed and quickly fell back asleep myself. Later in the night I kept waking up, wondering why my bathroom light was on, but was to lazy/tired to get up and turn it off. So I ignored it and went back to sleep. This morning I woke up and found this in my bathroom:
I suppose she felt that my bathroom, with the light on, was the only safe place in the house to sleep!