Sharks

Amanda has been getting up at night to go potty.  Most parents work towards getting their child to stay dry through the night.  But then there is Shawn and me....we are seriously at the point where we were yelling, "just go in your pull-up" and she yells back "no" through her tears (brightside:  at least we have taught her to stay in bed).  Yeah, we're awesome.  So we chucked the pull ups all together and just get up about twice a night to take her pee.  It's like having a baby again. (In her defense, she has been in twice for a bladder infection and so we feel really compelled to take her when she says she needs to go...she's got some potty issues).
However, sometimes, she is crying for other things, like a show, a paci or what not and we have to listen first to make sure she's legit.  If I am getting out of bed, someone had better be going potty...either her or me.
Well, last night, she'd already had a midnight pee run, when about an hour later we hear wailing...."Sharks, no"  sob sob sob, "Mommy, Daaaaaaaddddy"  Sob sob sob.  I listen.  Sharks?  "Go to bed Amanda." 
Through heaving sobs, I hear "Mooooommmy!  Moooommy!"  Not the normal fake cry, I get up and go in.  She stands up, jumps to me and clings to my neck in shuddering sobs.  I ask,
"What's wrong Amanda?"
"Sharks, no sharks, mama"
"What?"
"Sharks on my face."
"There are no sharks."
Through sobs, "Yes sharks."
I try to set her down at this point and she is clinging so tight I can't breathe.  It takes about 5 minutes for me to convince her to lay back in bed.  This is after verifying over and over there are no sharks, removing blankets to prove it and she's still doing the end of cry shudders and is just so pathetic mumbling about sharks. 
Finally, I soothe her, her dad comes to kiss her and we sneak out of the room.
And I almost break out laughing.  Sharks! What in the world?  I have no idea where this kid would have seen sharks.  I think we may have deduced that it is from a Disney show called Octonauts.  But seriously, it's on disney jr. and so fluffy...I can't imagine a shark terrifying enough to effect her this way.
If it weren't for her pathetic cries and terrified clinging, I really would have disolved into a fit of giggles.  Here we are, back to practically infant routine, getting up to take our kid pee and now she's having nightmares about sharks! 
We have had multiple conversations today about it and two extended ones at naptime and bedtime.  And if you are familiar with Amanda at all, you can only imagine the animation and body language involved in trying to convince us we are wrong about there being no sharks.  The kid is something else.
I am thankful for her though.   My hilarious, stubborn, animated, overly smart, passionate little girl.  So much personality in one little body.  And God let us have her, for who knows how long, but  I am thankful for every minute.  Especially the ones, where I get to be the good guy, the one who can comfort, the one who gets little arms around her neck and the one who gets to push hair out of the tears and let my brave little girl know that there are in fact, no sharks in her bed.