Where Does This Stuff Come From?
The light was about to go off.
Finally, bedtime had arrived.
And then she said, "Hide, quick! I see one, two, free praying mantises!!!" Huh? I complied, and we huddled under the thick comforter, despite the fact that it was a 90 degree day and we don't have air conditioning.
Anna was wide-eyed - clearly it would be a long time before we actually got to sleep.
"Can we peek our heads out and check to see if they're gone?" I asked.
She nodded, and we did.
We looked around, she squealed, and dove back under.
Darn.
They were still there.
I started sweating profusely.
After a few unsuccessful attempts to assure her we were mantis-free, a light bulb went off in my head.
"Anna," I said, "Let's put on our invisibility shields so we can go to sleep.
They won't even know we're here.
" "Okay, mom," she replied, clinging tightly to me as we removed the blanket.
Whew! I could breathe again.
And it was time to sleep.
I laughed about this the next day.
Most kids are scared of the boogeyman in the closet, or the monsters beneath their bed.
Mine fears..
..
praying mantises.
Tiny green insects.
I don't think she has ever even seen one.
That got me wondering: where does this stuff come from? You never know what will trigger a child's imagination, or how ordinary everyday things can take on colossal proportions in their little eyes.
And sometimes I have myself to blame for that.
In this case, upon reflection, I believe it was the Eric Carle book, The Very Quiet Cricket, that introduced Anna to this unique insect.
This cute little story features a baby cricket who meets other insect friends that try to greet him, but he can't find his voice to greet them back - spoiler alert! - until the end, when he meets another cricket.
(Sorry, but I may have just saved you $12.
) Anyway, one such insect is the praying mantis.
To make books such as this more enjoyable, I often create voices for the characters.
For some reason I decided to give the praying mantis a Joan Rivers-like, raspy, chain-smoker voice.
These weird voices always crack Anna up, so it never occurred to me that when nighttime began to get a little scary, courtesy of the alligator, my efforts at humor would come back to haunt us both.
Oops.
Even though we haven't read that book in a long time, suddenly, the now-evil praying mantis has reared his ugly head.
Was it my mantis voice that spooked her? Or perhaps the fact that these little creatures really are quite creepy-looking in real life? I'll probably never know.
But, at least I have learned that the mantises know the alligator, so if we can shoo him away, in theory, we should be able to take care of them all.
The point? I don't really have one, other than that it's absolutely fascinating to watch the toddler imagination at work.
You never know what will happen next! I'm glad to be a captive audience.
Finally, bedtime had arrived.
And then she said, "Hide, quick! I see one, two, free praying mantises!!!" Huh? I complied, and we huddled under the thick comforter, despite the fact that it was a 90 degree day and we don't have air conditioning.
Anna was wide-eyed - clearly it would be a long time before we actually got to sleep.
"Can we peek our heads out and check to see if they're gone?" I asked.
She nodded, and we did.
We looked around, she squealed, and dove back under.
Darn.
They were still there.
I started sweating profusely.
After a few unsuccessful attempts to assure her we were mantis-free, a light bulb went off in my head.
"Anna," I said, "Let's put on our invisibility shields so we can go to sleep.
They won't even know we're here.
" "Okay, mom," she replied, clinging tightly to me as we removed the blanket.
Whew! I could breathe again.
And it was time to sleep.
I laughed about this the next day.
Most kids are scared of the boogeyman in the closet, or the monsters beneath their bed.
Mine fears..
..
praying mantises.
Tiny green insects.
I don't think she has ever even seen one.
That got me wondering: where does this stuff come from? You never know what will trigger a child's imagination, or how ordinary everyday things can take on colossal proportions in their little eyes.
And sometimes I have myself to blame for that.
In this case, upon reflection, I believe it was the Eric Carle book, The Very Quiet Cricket, that introduced Anna to this unique insect.
This cute little story features a baby cricket who meets other insect friends that try to greet him, but he can't find his voice to greet them back - spoiler alert! - until the end, when he meets another cricket.
(Sorry, but I may have just saved you $12.
) Anyway, one such insect is the praying mantis.
To make books such as this more enjoyable, I often create voices for the characters.
For some reason I decided to give the praying mantis a Joan Rivers-like, raspy, chain-smoker voice.
These weird voices always crack Anna up, so it never occurred to me that when nighttime began to get a little scary, courtesy of the alligator, my efforts at humor would come back to haunt us both.
Oops.
Even though we haven't read that book in a long time, suddenly, the now-evil praying mantis has reared his ugly head.
Was it my mantis voice that spooked her? Or perhaps the fact that these little creatures really are quite creepy-looking in real life? I'll probably never know.
But, at least I have learned that the mantises know the alligator, so if we can shoo him away, in theory, we should be able to take care of them all.
The point? I don't really have one, other than that it's absolutely fascinating to watch the toddler imagination at work.
You never know what will happen next! I'm glad to be a captive audience.
Source...