The Love of Captivity

For a very long time my little Emily has loved stuffed animals. She has a million, they all have names and personalities. These 'pets' are her favorite thing. But her favorite thing to do with them is to put them on leashes, put them in cages, under bowls, under laundry baskets - basically keep these little guys in captivity. She loves animals to be trapped! At any given time you can walk around my house and find yarn tied around bar stool legs, chair legs, piano bench legs, cupboard knobs, anything that an animal can be tied to, all to ensure it doesn't get away. One day last week I walked in her room and found one animal under her pillow with a cookie sheet blocking the exit. Also I found she'd pushed her doll cradle in front of her closet doors - why, I asked, so the pets in the closet couldn't get out. The girl is crazy about captivity. Don't ask me why, I don't get it. But I do know that she's not the only one, her much-loved cousin is all about captivity too - when they get together those stuffed animals don't stand a chance! Both little girls got real dog collars and leashes for Christmas just to make the animal-control issue even easier.
But I'm starting to get worried because she's taking it to a new level - her next target . . . Logan. Logan has found that stairs can be really entertaining, and I've seen him go up one step several times. I wasn't too worried about him on the stairs, because going up one stair usually took 15 minutes and I'd find him by then, or he'd lose interest. But last week I noticed I hadn't seen him in a while so I went looking for him. I found him 8 steps up and climbing. Luckily I found him before he fell, I got him down, and put him down for a nap. I told Emmy I'd have to get out the baby gate now for sure. She insisted on getting it out immediately. I kept telling her that he was asleep - he wasnt' going anywhere. This wasn't good enough for her . . . she couldn't relax until that baby gate was up and Logan was contained for good!
Then today, another disconcerting moment . . . Logan had just woken up this morning and Emmy and I went in to get him. Emmy sees him and says to me, 'get him out of his crate'. Crate? That's right, crate. She thinks her brother sleeps in a crate. And that's just as it should be!

Sad Day

Thursday was a sad for me. I went to the dentist and was told for the first time I have a cavity. I was completly shocked - I kind of thought if I'd made it 31 years I might be immune from the things or something. I'm sad that I have to give up my standard repsonse in the game where you write something true about you that no one knows - I've always been the 'never had a cavity' girl! I'm sad that I have to go back to the dentist and find people to watch my kids AGAIN. I'm sad that I have to get it filled - from what I hear that's not going to be pleasant. It's a sad day.