of crocodiles and other scary things

Anthony now has a fear of crocodiles. He imagines them on the floor and last night there was one in his bed. Of course, I had to jump on it, wrestle with it for a while, then, tie it up and throw it down the stairs. I gave him a glow-in-the-dark cross, because crocodiles are afraid of crosses...the Holy Name of Jesus...and our Guardian Angels.

I've been through this before. Teresa was terrified of dragons at that age and Catherine had a fear of "cock sweepers". I spent several weeks battling dragons and elusive cock sweepers. The best I can figure, from her description is that cock sweepers look like the broom that Merryweather animates to clean the cottage in "Sleeping Beauty", only they're mean. I'm pretty sure Teresa's fear of dragons came from the same source. It was not a movie I wanted them watching because I thought it was too scary, but they saw (at least part) of it at Grandma's house one weekend because their (then ten-year old) aunt was watching it while they were all playing downstairs and I wasn't paying close enough attention to what was going on.

Now, I don't know where Anthony's fear of crocodiles came from (I don't think he's seen "The Rescuers"), but I'm ready for battle.