Suds Sipper

I don't know what it is about kids and bathwater. You can fuss with them all day long to drink a bottle of water. Yet, when you stick them in the tub, they won't stop drinking the bathwater. Alyssa keeps doing it and she finds it quite amusing. I actually had to look it up to see if other kids participate in this daily ritual. They do! Apparently, it's quite normal for children to guzzle water from the tub.

I don't know what is most concerning to me about this behavior... that she's drinking soapy tap water, that the tub is dirty, or the chance that there just might be pee in the water. I know all of these things are survivable, but it's just gross!

I've just come to the realization that she just might be doing it because of the attention she gets from me telling her not to do it. The more I say no, the more she drinks. I think I'd be better off ignoring it than acknowledging it. It's worth a try!

Sorry my little suds sipper, bathtub cocktail hour needs to end.

Monsters!

Our house has been monster free until now. All of a sudden, they are hiding out in closets and in the bathroom. When Alyssa turns the corner to walk down that hallway to the bathroom, she'll point down the hallway with her little finger and whisper, "I can't. There's a monster in there!"

Trying to be clever, I grabbed the "Oust!" and sprayed the bathroom. I told her I used "Monster Spray" and he went away. She peeked in the bathroom and nothing was there. She seemed a bit intrigued and all was good.

Yesterday, we had another monster hiding out. I read something in Parents magazine about how to respond to these situations. Our conversation went something like this:

Alyssa: "There's a monster in there!"
Mommy: "There is?"
Alyssa: "Yeah, he's going to get me."
Mommy: "No, he's not. He's a nice monster. He's just here to play with you."
Alyssa (yelling): "No, I don't want to play with him!"

So much for the magazine's advice... Apparently, kids don't want to play with monsters. I think I'll stick to the monster spray. It seemed to work the best.

Mr. Mosquito

On Thursday, we had a mosquito in the office at home and I made the mistake of screaming when I saw it. As soon as Alyssa saw him too, she took off running and screaming. I grabbed the fly swatter and went in to take care of business. I took a swipe, but then I could not find him. He wasn’t flying around, so I thought I got him and he crawled away.

Alyssa was at her desk coloring on Saturday and all of a sudden she started screaming and crying. Mr. Mosquito was back! He must have hid out for a few days. So, I grabbed the fly swatter again and gave him a good swat. The little stinker disappeared on me again. Then, I noticed him in the hallway. She wanted to watch me swat him again. There was no way he was going to hide on us this time.

We celebrated with “high 5’s” and saying, “Yeah, we got him!” Then, we sang a little song, “Ding, dong, the mosquito is dead! The mean old mosquito, Mr. Mosquito is dead!” (Like the mean witch song from the Wizard of Oz.) We had a good laugh and I was thankful he wouldn’t be around to find me while I was sleeping.

Outhouse Trauma

I’m still recovering from yesterday’s outhouse experience. We went to the Aloha Festival at Tempe Beach Park and the City of Tempe had “Out of Order” signs on all the public restrooms. Instead, they had outhouses. One look inside the door and Alyssa took off running and screaming. Meanwhile, her legs were crossed and she kept repeating, “My pee pee is coming! My pee pee is coming!” I tried to convince her to use the potty and she refused. It was like you watched your cat get ran over by a car… the screaming was that bad!!!

After finally calming her down, explaining that there are no other places to go potty, and offering a treat to try using the potty like a big girl, we went inside. Of course, she looked down inside the potty and started screaming again. She tried to get down and run away because she thought she would fall in the big hole. Then, because she was scared, she refused to go. It took everything I had to calm her so that she would finally go and we could get the heck out of there. If you know me well, you know that I would rather wait hours than to ever use an outhouse. This was a moment I’d rather have avoided.

While the experience was the most traumatic one we’ve had, the reward was a yummy Hawaiian ice. It helped us forget the trauma in the outhouse.

Ice Cream Sundae

We planned on going out for ice cream tonight, but decided to have some at home instead. Here’s the dialogue:

Alyssa: I want to go out for ice cream.
Daddy: Mommy’s going to make you an ice cream sundae when we get home.
Alyssa: I don’t want it on Sunday, I want it today!

Packing Lunch for Daddy

A few weeks ago, Alyssa came to me in the morning and asked what I was doing. I told her I was packing lunch for Daddy. She asked if she could do it and I helped her put his lunch into the bag. Little did I know that she'd be packing his lunch from that day forward. One day, it was all packed before she got out of bed and she cried, "I wanted to pack lunch for Daddy!" So I said, " You can do it tomorrow." Sure enough, she heard me in the kitchen the following morning, hopped out of bed, and came to pack Daddy's lunch. At first, she was just throwing things into the bag. I explained to her that the heavy things go on the bottom and soft things like a banana go on top. Yesterday, we were packing a can of soup and she looked at me and said, "Heavy things on the bottom." It's also great motivation to wake her in the morning and get her out of bed. I just say, "Time to get up! Don't you want to pack Daddy's lunch?" She gets right up and heads towards the kitchen. This is obviously very special to her and Daddy is very appreciative (even when some things get smashed). She has obviously observed me doing getting things ready every morning and wants to help. I think it's wonderful!

Glowing Lizards

It's always an experience cashing in the tickets from the arcade and choosing a "prize," especially when you don't have enough tickets to get the good ones. Alyssa had her choice between a Spiderman tattoo, crayons, and a glow-in-the-dark lizard. She chose the lizard and was quite excited about it. When we got home, I showed her how to hold him in the light and take him into the dark to see him glow. This was quite fascinating! She played with him in her playhouse for a while and then it happened. He disappeared!

She was sobbing that her lizard was gone and she could not find him. We searched her playhouse (with lights on and off) looking for him, but he was not there. We looked everywhere! He was nowhere to be found. I never imagined the drama that could result from a tiny glow-in-the-dark lizard. She continued to ask for him throughout the night. Our best guess is that she had him in the bathroom. If she was holding him and he fell into the toilet, then he was flushed away. Nevertheless, he was gone.

Desperate to hear her stop asking for him, I went to Party City in search of glow lizards. Yes! I found a bag of them. I gave Alyssa three to play with and saved the rest "just in case." No more than 10 minutes has passed and she was sobbing again. The lizards were gone! Unbelievable! So, I searched and there they were on the carpet by her playhouse. All was good for about 10 more minutes and the sobbing started again. The lizards were gone! Apparently, she decided to grab the markers to color her playhouse and sat them on the counter. It took me a little longer to find them this time around. Yes, we have spares, but I don't know how much longer I can handle their disappearances. These little guys sure are stirring up a lot of trouble.