A stranger in the night

I wake up. The clock says 1:11am. There is a man beside my bed. He's crying. He's two. It's wg2. I comfort him. I can't tell if he's crying because he's had a nightmare or because he's struggled to drag his "blank," the stuffed dog his mom just got him from Bookmans and his big pillow all the way from his room to our room in the dead of night. He accepts the comfort and calms after a few minutes.

We arrange his pillow on the ground carefully. We place his dog carefully. We cover him with his "blank" which gets harder and harder to do every month. He seems okay.

"I love you wg2." He sleeps.

It's 1:20am. He's up again. I don't know why.
"Can I sleep with you?"
"No buddy, mommy doesn't think it's a good idea. It's okay, I'm right here." He sleeps.
Mom has a rule, no kids sleeping in the bed with us. Period. I'm not sure why, but it's the rule. I consider lying on the ground with him. My bed persuades me otherwise. The ground is hard and unyielding.

It's 2:04am.
"There's piders and grathoppers down here. They're gonna get me." I hug him.
"Daddy put all of the spiders and grasshoppers outside. They're not going to get you buddy. Lay down now. It's okay." wg2 has become very interested in "piders" He can describe them all to you. The conversation always goes like this:

"There's a pider."
"Just leave it alone, it's okay."
"But it's a back widow pider." I'm not buying it. I don't move an inch.
"No it isn't. It's okay, just leave it alone."
"Yes it is. It has a black bottom and a red spot on it's tummy." Hmmm. They do look like that.
I get up from whatever I'm doing and look. The "pider" I see is inevitably so small as to be barely visible and nothing like a black widow spider. I crush it in one second and walk away.
Repeat 5 times each day.

It's sometime after 2:04 am and before 3:10 am. He's stopped asking. I feel him climbing up onto the bed. I quietly make room. It's not my rule after all. I pretend I don't notice. We share covers. He moves a lot and the clock says 3:10, 3:23, 3:55, 4:28. I contemplate just getting up. Eventually my alarm goes off. wg2 actually slept late. Lucky monkey.