There's a Monster in my room

When Jared began sleeping in a big boy bed, I had many warnings from friends and coworkers.  "Be prepared," they warned.  "Some night you will feel a little finger tapping your shoulder in the middle of the night.  So, when we made the transition I was ready.  To our dismay, Jared would not get out of bed without permission.  Not even a friend falling on the floor that he easily could have retrieved himself prompted him to get out of bed.  He would call or scream for us, but never got out of bed on his own.  We have enjoyed a good 16 months of this.

A few weeks ago, Jared began to test the waters.  Shortly after bedtime he was found in the bathroom, pooping.  Well, you got to do what you got to do.  A few nights later we heard his bedroom door open.  We ran to quickly send him back to bed and remind him he needed to call for us.  There have been no further mishaps.

Then, there was last night.  Jared appeared next to our bed at 3:30.  He was attempting to climb into bed with us.  He was prepared too.  He had his pillow, Buzz Lightyear, snot rag, and blankie.  There was some super loud thunder, so I assumed this had started him.  Feeling confused myself, it was 3:30 in the morning, we prepared the comforter for him to sleep on.  I went to his room to grab a blanket and noticed he had closed his bedroom door.  I wondered how long it took him to gather his things and make the journey down the hall.  

When the alarm went off at 5:30, I escorted Jared and all his things back to his bed.  He seemed disappointed, but didn't complain too much.

When Jared finally woke up for the morning he was talking lots about the guy with one eye.  Thank you Mike Wazowski!  Something about dark hands, climbing out from under his bed, and moving his stuff around.  Great, first trip to the movies leaves us with our first real nightmare.  Awesome.

Now, here comes the challenge: How in the world do you explain a dream to a 3 year old?  Oh, I'm sure you can think of very logical explanations.  However, every last explanation you offer is analyzed, and picked apart by the 3 year old.  He was convinced good old Mike was in his room.  Forget the logical explanations, try illogical explanations.  Still not making any sense to him.  We call the grandparents to get some reinforcements that dreams are just silly and NOT real.  I'm not sure he is buying it.  Now he is jealous that my mom had a swimming pool in her bedroom, and my dad went flying with Superman.  

I do have him convinced tonight he can dream about Batman.  He seems pretty excited that Batman is coming to his house.  We wants to stay up to play with Batman. He even said he would change out of his pajamas. I'm not sure my strategy will work.  I debate about having Batman call us (my brother), but not sure what Batman would say.  

I debate about buying the Sully from the Disney store that I pried out of Jared's hands yesterday.  Maybe I could sell it as a "protector" and "if you see Mike again he probably just wants to play with Sully."  

I decide to just wait and see what happens.  I'm sure I will be up throughout the night listening,  waiting.