When the Dark is Less Scary Than Your Mother..

For some unknown reason, my 5 year old has been waking in the middle of the night and needing me by his bed side. It's gotten to the point that I've got a sleeping bag and a pillow set up next to his bed to make life a little easier.
I don't know exactly what came over me last night when I heard his whiney cry, but someone else inside of me took over. I first sat up and told him it was ok, and to go back to sleep. This only intensified the whine, and I could hear his brother start to rustle. My husband got up, and I thought he was going to take care of it. But he needed to take care of something else, and headed for the bathroom. The whining escalated, and I just lost it. This is what I remember saying "Jesus! I'm so sick of this.. It's not comfortable on the floor.. do you realize that you're making your mother sleep on the floor??"
This is when he looked at me, and simply pointed in the direction of my bed. "Oh no, we are NOT sleeping in my bed!!" I firmly stated.
And he said "No, you. You can go back to bed."
The demon inside of me, tired of sleepless nights in a sleeping bag was released, and I then felt like total shit for being so harsh to my son. I hugged him and told him that I was sorry for being so mean. He hugged me back and said it was ok, then he layed his little head down, I covered him up in his smelly bug sprayed blanket, and went back to bed. My son was more afraid of me than the dark.
It took a while to fall back to sleep. My husband had missed my outburst, but was no doubt surprised to find me in our bed when he returned from the bathroom.
I apologized again this morning and told my son how proud I was that he went back to sleep on his own, and how much better I had slept in my own bed rather than on the floor. He seemed very pleased with himself and told me that it was ok.
I'm thinking this may have solved our night time disturbances. It's not a technique I would have used under normal "awake" circumstances, nor is it one that I think will be printed in any parenting magazine, but I think I recovered from it ok, as did my son.. it's all good!!