Moving On - Part 2

In which I discuss the impact on the girls.

"Mom," she tells me (and anyone else who will listen) several times daily, "when we go to Idaho, I can get my guys back!" ...Often followed by, "Can we go there now?"

The toddler lost all priveleges to her "guys" a few months ago when she trashed her room during a tantrum over a nap. I came in to discover the entire contents of her dresser dumped on the floor, a hardcover book she'd received as a Christmas gift torn up beyond repair, and the Fisher Price Little People she'd been allowed to take to her room as a peace offering strewn everywhere. I found the one she'd named Diego (though I think Fisher Price calls him Michael) under a big pile of little socks and underpants -- his left arm gone. Amputated. I had no idea you could break a Little People (person?), but somehow my child managed to.

I don't know if I overreacted or not: I sent her out of the room, threw away what remained of the book, gathered up all the toys she had in there (including poor disabled Diego), put them in a box sealed with duct tape, and shoved it all on the highest shelf in her closet. I told her she could open the box when we got to our new house in Idaho this summer.

The punishment didn't immediately sink in. Her first words to me the next morning were a pitiful, "Oh, Mom! My guys! My beautiful guys! Can you please get them down for me?" I explained again that she'd made a bad choice, destroyed a book, hurt her guys, and that they had to stay in a box until we moved. She continued to ask for a few days, and then resigned herself to the loss.

That was several months ago. We still talk about her guys every day, though I think by now the lesson has been swallowed up in simple anticipation. Moving to Idaho might as well be code for Christmastown; Idaho is where all good things will come to her: Ice cream cones, pony rides, Chuck E. Cheese, and her guys -- her beautiful guys.

She's got the baby in on the act, too. They rile each other up with tales of all the wonderful things that will happen when they get to "Ha-Ho," as the little one calls it. With such a build up, I hope it doesn't disappoint.


~RCH~