don’t worry, we have a flashlight

On Friday morning, we stayed home while Mom did the laundry and packed, and Dad puttered around the garden. I was supremely unhelpful re: packing because BB was hogging all my attention. Mom would ask me a simple question about the stuff I was taking back and BB would be tugging on my arm and shouting at me to come play. I adore lil dude, but he is exhausting. I guess I was incidentally helpful because I kept him occupied upstairs while Mom packed all his toys in the living room.

We had a simple lunch of frozen pizza and leftover dino nuggets & fries, then left at around 2:30. I got dropped off at home and everyone else continued up to brother's house. Mom and Dad will spend the weekend up there, then return home on Sunday afternoon.

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BB knows a lot of words, but that doesn’t mean he can articulate his feelings. For instance, he hates baths. He wails and shrieks every time. We’ve tried asking him (midday, when he is calm and there’s no bath pending), “Why don’t you like baths?” because if we know, we can try and fix the issue. But he has no response. He can’t explain it. We’re left to speculate. He doesn’t dislike all water; he enjoys playing with water while washing his hands. Does he get too cold? Does he just not like water in his eyes? But he also wails at water being poured on him from the shoulders down only…

Sometimes he can explain things. In the evenings, we would sit by the front door and watch for fireflies. I thought it’d be better to go to the sunroom for a better view. BB said it was too spooky. “There are too many things,” he explained. Okay, sure. My interp is all the silhouettes of the plants feel a bit threatening to a three-year-old who is scared of the dark. We went back to the front door.

On Thursday night, as we were watching fireflies at the front door, he kept saying: “Don’t worry, we have a flashlight.” He said it over and over. We each took a toy panda from the stair railing as a pretend flashlight. The next day, I discovered the origin of the phrase. It’s from a Pete the Cat Halloween book. Pete is nervous to go trick-or-treating, and his dad tells him, “Don’t worry, we have a flashlight.” Ultimately, Pete has a great time and it’s not scary at all. I guess even sitting by the front door after dark is a little spooky for BB, but having a pretend flashlight makes things okay.

Friday morning, we were doing feelings roleplay. The scenario: We got in the elevator (he loves playing elevator) and went to the 100th floor for lunch. We were planning to get pizza. Upon arrival, we discovered there was no pizza because Caroline Catfish played too hard with the pizza machine and broke it. I sat down on the floor and pouted with my lower lip stuck out (I was just imitating his pouting self but he liked it a lot). I said, “I’m sad and mad. I wanted pizza but there’s no pizza.” Then he would tell me it’s okay, I could have a hot dog instead, and I’d cheer up and eat a pretend hot dog. Then we’d do the whole scenario again. And again. Maybe I’ve just been out of kidspace for too long, but do all little kids like repetition this much? Well, the distant hope is that some of the scenario will stick, and the next time he goes somewhere for X and discovers X is not available he will not throw a fit, although I would not hold my breath.