Knitting interrupted

I've been sitting on this story since last week and it is just too funny not to share, and I want to share it before I forget. It was a proud shining moment in my parenting decisions.

Pork Chop found an old teddy bear in the stuffed animal box named Grandma Moses. It was my Mother's, then mine, now her's. She loved it for a week. She swaddled it like a baby, and took it almost everywhere. She made sure it was fed three meals a day and tucked in safely at night. She took very good care of it.

Last Friday as we were picking up toys I found Grandma Moses laying by the couch. I didn't want to put her away since she would be heading upstairs for bed soon, so I sat her in the rocking chair. Then I found the children's dress-up kitty ears. I put them on Grandma Moses so they could go upstairs at bedtime and be put back with the other dress-up clothes. She looked pretty cute.

Pork Chop came downstairs from her bath and just laughed at Grandma Moses. She wanted to know how the ears got on her. I told her I didn't know, Grandma Moses must have wanted to play dress-up too. Then Pork Chop wanted to know how Grandma Moses got in the rocking chair. Again I replied that I didn't know.

I was thinking this could be a fun game. I could put things on Grandma Moses or put her places and we could pretend she was real. Wouldn't that be fun? What a great childhood memory that would be. Isn't imagination great?

Well, to quote Thomas "sometimes good imaginations imagine bad things."

At bedtime Pork Chop informed me that she wanted to put Grandma Moses back in the stuffed animal box in her brother's room. And maybe we might want to think about keeping her in the basement. I was puzzled. After a week of having Grandma Moses as her constant companion I didn't understand why she wanted to put the bear as far away from her as possible. I asked her why and she told me "that bear is kinda freaking me out." I buried my face in The Greatest's shoulder so she wouldn't see me laugh. I couldn't help it. I took the bear and promised to put it away.

I tucked Meaty in and went to tuck Pork Chop in. She was in her bed just sobbing into her pillow. I asked her what was wrong, and she told me that she was concerned that the troll who made Grandma Moses real would come back and put horrible magic on her. I don't know why she thought a troll had cast magic on Grandma Moses, and I don't know what horrible magic she thought the troll would work on her. I just felt terrible for having upset her so. I instantly confessed that I had put the ears on Grandma Moses and put her in the rocking chair. She felt better but still didn't want the bear that night.

She has since reclaimed the bear as her own. I'm glad. I guess when you open the door to the idea that magic can be real, that there really are fairies, unicorns and teddy bears that turn real you also open the door to the idea that trolls, wicked wizards, and horrible magic can also be real.

Poor Baby. I was really looking forward to pretending Grandma Moses was real. Hope I didn't scar her too much. But I have to giggle everytime I think about her telling me the bear was "freaking" her out.