Yes it was certainly a developmental leap here, DS always had what I call anxiety dreams (they don't appear to be night terrors or night mares), mostly I didn't know what they were about, but the occasional time when he verbalised his dream or sleep talked it was quite a surprise what could cause such anxiety.
The apple core incident - well, he'd been eating an apple, it was finished, he told me it was finished but we were walking along the street and my hands were full so I asked him to carry it until we reached a bin. When we reached the bin I invited him to put it in, he was really pleased with this, putting something in the bin himself. So he dropped it in, smiling, happy yk? But that night in his sleep he must have been processing this incident in a totally different way. He was shouting out and screaming for his apple core as though it had been his prized possession which I'd forced him to give up. He was really upset by it shouting "My apple core, oh my apple core! It's gone!" and sobbing like he lost his lovey.
I noticed in the following days he would be upset if I put food in the bin (at the end of a meal when he was full and had left food on his plate) he had some sort of possession/loss anxiety going on.
We've had all sorts though - shouting for his spanner in the middle of the night was amusing, a lot of "No! I don't want to" in his sleep, a lot of numbers and letters were heard when he was younger. I have a laugh at some of them. My favourites are when he bursts out laughing though
I honestly think if there is a developmental thing going on they will not sleep so well, but it can't be 'fixed' with routine and you could tie yourself up in knots trying to work it out.
