Imagery...5 Year-Old Boy Style...

Drew has been having difficulty falling asleep at night, so that in the past couple weeks he hasn't been succemubing to slumber until about 10:00 each night. This wouldn't really be a problem, except for him it means that, after the thirty minutes or so Dave sits with him and Ryan and the next thirty minutes he listens to books on tape (because he can't stand the quiet), he proceeds to patter up the hall every five minutes or so with all reasons he can't sleep. Every once in awhile one of us will sit with him longer until he falls asleep, but I think we're both past feeling guilty about not doing that every night - he's five, after all, we do spend time with him each night, and when we leave, he has someone else there ("I mean someone besides Ryan," he protests, often before we can even get the words out!). At any rate, sometimes I will massage achy muscles or let him use the heating pad, which does seem to help him relax and then go to sleep on his own, and this week I've also tried some mental relaxation techniques, hoping to give him some tools he can use himself. But this is how that's gone:

"Where's your favorite place?" I asked soothingly one evening as his eyes were closed, "A place you feel the happiest and most peaceful?"
He smiled. "A basketball stadium!" he offered enthusiastically.
"Okay, we're sitting in the stands after a game, feeling happy..." I began, trying to salvage this image, which seems more exciting that calming.
"No, no, no - I'm playing basketball with Tyler Hansbrough!" Tyler, if you do not know, is the University of North Carolina's star player, the National Player of the Year, and Drew's hero.
But this is not going so well! Somehow I try to have him refocus, so we try to talk about different parts of his body and how they feel in this happy place (after I try to have him just sit beside Tyler Hansbrough - a water break, maybe...)
His feet - "They have basketball shoes on them!"
His hands - "They're holding a basketball!"
Now he's more roused than before, and I kiss him goodnight, promising to check on him a little later. :-)

The next night, I tried offering the peaceful place myself. "Let's close our eyes and imagine we're on the Island of the Blue Dolphins." (He had been listening to the story on tape the past several nights.) "Let's think about how quiet it is there, with the trees above us, the warm sun shining on us, the waves washing up on the beach. Let's look at the blue, blue water, with the fish swimming around in it..."
"Devilfish!" he exclaimed, his eyes popping open.
"Okay, devilfish," I agreed. "Now close your eyes, and let's just watch the devilfish swim."
"No, I have a spear in my hand," he said, once again being drawn into the image in a somewhat different way than I had hoped. His eyes open again. "It's a long spear, with a seal's tooth for a point," and he proceeds to tell me in detail and at some length about how to properly construct a spear for the purpose of catching devilfish.

So imagery has not been working as far as achieving sleep goes, but I guess I can't fail to appreciate his vibrant imagination. And I can feel assured that should we ever be stranded on an island somewhere, he'll know how to catch fish!