The Gunny Bunny

So I may or may not have accidentally caused Peyton to now be scared of the dark and sleeping.  

Let's back up... when my sister and I were little my parents told us about the Gunny Bunny.  I don't remember much about it, but my sister says that the Gunny Bunny would take our toys that we left out on the floor if we didn't clean them up.  Again, I'm not sure this actually happened, but my sister tends to have a good memory and I do remember something about a creepy bunny sneaking into our house.

So anyway, I have told the story to Peyton a few times and then helped her clean up her toys saying, "I'd hate for the Gunny Bunny to come tonight!".  On Sunday night, Peyton went to bed as usual.  She woke up around 3 and crawled into bed with us.  "I had a bad dream, Mommy! It was the Gunny Bunny" (cue instant guilt).  Then she was up at 4 because she had to go potty.  When she finally crawled back into bed she wanted me to face her while we slept.  I have a hard time sleeping on my left side, so I told her no, but that she could still cuddle up against me.  Then she asked, "well can we both think about going to the park and playing in the sand together?"  "Of course we can."  So we both went back to bed dreaming about playing at the park!
Monday night she asked, "so you are sleeping with me tonight, right?" umm... no.  I told her I would stay with her until she fell asleep and that I would leave her lamp on and her door open.  She crawled into bed with me around 2, but she hadn't had any bad dreams, thankfully.
I do feel bad that she had a bad dream, but I tried to tell her that I have bad dreams too sometimes and that we don't always have bad dreams.  She was so happy this morning when she woke up to report that she had "no dreams"!  
And before you try to judge me and my parenting skills, just back off!  Just because you wouldn't dare tell your child about the Gunny Bunny, it doesn't mean I am horrible for using it as a helpful cleaning tool. Quit judging.