There’s a Monster in my Tub
Tonight, as we were drying off from Duke’s bath, he stood stock still and wrapped his arms around himself. As I watched the eyes get wider and wider, as he stared past me into the tub, I asked, “Buddy, what’s wrong, did you bump your elbow?”
“No, Mama, I saw monster.”
Um, you saw WHAT? In the tub? You mean right behind Mommy? Now that’s just isn’t right.
I turned to look to see if there was ANYTHING he could have thought was a monster that wasn’t. The lights in the bathroom were on, so no shadowy pile of laundry, there were no spiders, no cats in the tub…NOTHING. Maybe a shadow, but it was gone and I had a scared boy on my hands.
I bent down to his face and said, “Buddy, I have a secret weapon against monsters. You wanna know what it is?”
“Yep”
“Monsters can’t pass the monster-proof shower curtain I bought. So let’s close them up in the tub, ok?”
“Ok”
Still wide-eyed, I carried him into his room. He was now mumbling about monsters. We called for Daddy to come and make sure there were none in the room and Daddy read the best monster book, ever — “There’s a Monster at the End of this Book”
Finally, Duke calmed down, but it starled both Prince and I. We thought he didn’t know that monsters were scary yet. We thought we’d protected him from all things scary — but alas, those childhood fears come in no matter what.
I remember being a child and when waking up in the middle of the night I’d see trolls. Nope, not kidding. I would see trolls in the shadows. I can to this day remember seeing one thrusting a giant tree truck at me as I walked/ran from my room to my parents. (Yes, I have an active imagination, why do you ask?)
I guess it is all part of growing up. Just like being able to read the word “Dad” in a story or tell me all the letters and their sounds, my little boy is growing up a bit and tonight it scared us both.
April 2nd, 2007 at 8:15 am
Unfortunately there’s no way to predict what will become “scary” – to some it’s the dark, or thunderstorms. Our oldest was terrified of storms, until Dad came up with “it’s Jesus clapping”, and she would clap along! Our youngest was never scared of anything – watched Jurassic Park at 4 and loved it, not scared at all. Some will be scared of clowns (and I understand why!). My brother has his son terrified of hippies and liberals. Go figure!
Speaking of them growing up – I put mine on a plane by themselves (with a layover and plane change) at 6:00 this morning, and they are NOT being considered Unaccompanied Minors, they’re on their own. They’re growing up too fast! Hey – 27 days until I see you! Can you believe it’s been over a year?
April 2nd, 2007 at 8:42 am
Monsters, did I have monsters in my bedroom growing up! Oh man. Naturally, they never showed their ugly faces when I’d call my parents to my room. Even now I don’t like to hang my arms over my bed when I sleep. No sense tempting fate.
January 20th, 2008 at 4:58 pm
[...] has discovered monsters. Oh sure, there was this brief experience, but I think that was more because of a commercial than a real understanding of the scariness that [...]