Day 26

I took my boys to the How to Train a Dragon movie in the weekend, and even though Smith is only 4, he actually thinks he's a 9 year old (like his older brother Will, and all Will's friends), so the violence and the noise, although it worried me that it was too much for him, didn't phase Smith at all.  He loved it and flapped his dragon wings all the way back to the car.  However that night, he came through, he'd had a bad dream, he'd heard footsteps, he'd seen shadows outside his window and he was terrified.  "Good mother" I thought, once my goosebumps had subsided. 

So what actually is a dream?

Dreaming is defined as the subjective experience of imaginary images, sounds/voices, thoughts or sensations during sleep.  Dreaming usually occurs in the R.E.M. stage (rapid-eye movement) of sleep, in which brain activity is high and signaled by rapid horizontal movements of the eyes. They can sometimes last for a few seconds, or as long as twenty minutes.  Psychologists have concluded that our daily activities while we are awake can have an affect on our dreams (see, there you go, BAD MOTHER right?). Some see dreaming as an important process through which all species with complex brains analyze and consolidate information. This is supported by the fact that most mammals dream. Other theories conclude that dreaming is nothing more than random brain activity that has little to no logical relevance.  
Well all I know is that when I'm in a dark quiet house, researching websites for dream info has pulled a number of disturbing websites up.  And based on The Sister and my track record of particularly spooky dreams after our mum died, I'm going to park this fact for the day.