For pretend or for real?

The other night we had dinner with Hubby's brother and his family at their house. Izzy LOVES going over there for lots of reasons, but 3 really good ones. His cousins: J,T,L. J&T are 13 year old twin boys and L is an 11 year old boy. They are fantastic with Izzy and play whatever Izzy wants. Izzy acts so much more mature around them and literally wants to be them when he is older. They are very obedient and know the rules I have for him, so once we are there, they are off. Playing baseball in the backyard, Legos, movies, video games, whatever Izzy wants. At the end of the night, I walked in L's room to get Izzy to go home. They were all snuggled in the bed so sweetly. I look over to find them watching Monsters Inc. I remember Hubby and I going on a date to see that movie when it came out and I think it is adorable. Izzy seemed to like it and was devastated to leave.

Cut to bedtime. Izzy says, "Mommy, are those Monsters for pretend or for real?" Me: "Izzy, you know God didn't make monsters, they are just pretend. In that movie they are not scary or ugly. It was just a movie about pretend monsters so there is nothing to worry about." It seemed to be enough and he went right to sleep.

Night #2.
In bed for 15 minutes. Loud crying. Ugggggh!
"Mommy, are you FOR SURE those are just for pretend? Look under my bed and in my closet because in the movie that is where they hide."
After a full sweep and reassurance, he was off to sleep.

Night #3.
In bed again for 15 minutes. Loud crying. REALLY loud crying. UGGGGGGH!
"Mommy, I am so scared. Why did I watch that movie? Please tell my Aunt that I don't want to watch that movie no more! I know you said that are for pretend, but I am still scared."
I try to convince him that while he goes to sleep, I will talk to his Aunt and let her know he doesn't care for that movie and she will never let him watch it again at their house. He doesn't think that is good enough. He wants to talk to her himself. I make the call and give her the back story. She understands completely and feels bad for the little guy. He tell her that he needs to come over first thing tomorrow morning to make sure his cousins know how he feels about the subject. She promises that is unnecessary, because she will tell them. Finally, he is able to rest easy and goes right to sleep.

We have never had an issue with him being scared of the dark. I feel so badly for him, because I remember as a kid dreading when my Mom turned off the lights. Each night he seems to step it up. What am I going to have to do tomorrow to make him feel like I am being totally honest with him?

What he doesn't know is he is actually going over to stay the night there and camp out in the backyard for his first time ever! I am so excited for him and he is going to literally flip out when he hears the news. Hopefully, when he is over there, the boys can reassure him that they won't watch that movie again and he will be so distracted by all of the fun, he won't even think about that movie again.

Ironically, I will probably need Hubby to reassure me all night that Izzy is going to be just fine and not to worry. For real.