Watering the Flower

Tis the Halloween season. There are lots of reasons to be out and about in costumes. This last Saturday night  we went to a church Halloween night with my parents. Bug was supposed to be a lion, but she refused to wear her hoodie with the tail and lion face, and Monkey was a purple flower. Monkey's costume is basically a purple, knee length dress with purple tulle flowers on the bodice, "petals" for the skirt, and green trim.

As we were walking to the car after the festivities were over, I overheard my mom and Monkey talking about her being a flower. My mom had a cup of water and was teasing Monkey that she was going to water her. Monkey was laughing and running away and playing with my mom about it. About a minute later, Monkey was walking in front of me and I couldn't resist. I threw the water that I had on her. She screamed. She cried. I laughed.

She was so upset. She went into insta-drama mode, crying and yelling at me. "Why would you do that?!" "That's not nice!" I told her that she was a flower and that I thought she needed water. Her response was fantastic:

"I'm not a real flower! I don't need to be watered!"

Bear tried to get her to calm down. He tried to explain to her that there was no reason to be so upset. She maintained that it wasn't nice of me to throw water on her and that it was mean of me to surprise her by doing so.

I didn't get her costume wet. She was wearing flip flops, so she didn't have to wear wet shoes or socks. She was dry within a couple minutes.

I knew that by doing that I was going to awaken the drama queen. At least this time I knew what I was doing. It wasn't a random crying fit because of some perceived slight against her. It was totally worth it.

I blame my mom for my sense of humor in torturing my children. She did it to me. I do it to my kids. And I am sure the cycle will continue. I also know that karma comes around, and I am only getting back what I gave my mom. That gives me confidence that one day my kids will find humor in the things from their childhood and not take life too seriously when they have their own kids.

Happy and Sad

This picture is one of the most telling pictures of my kids. Bug was only a month old when Monkey wanted to lay on the couch and snuggle her. I told her she could as long as A) Bug was on the pillow and up against the back of the couch and B) that Monkey didn’t lay ON her. As soon as Monkey laid down next to her, she draped one arm over her legs to half hug/snuggle her. Bug burst into tears. Monkey quickly backed off and covered her ears because she was so loud.

Two years later and I am still dealing with this scenario. Monkey wants to play, and Bug doesn’t and throws a fit. Or the other way around. They do love each other and about half the time they get along and play like BFF’s and other times… not so much. I do have to say though that I am both excited and terrified to see the relationship between my kids grow and evolve.

I guess all kids are half demon and half angel. Just gotta learn to go with the flow.