When I was 10 or so, I got a cute little Pound Puppy from Toys R Us. I don't remember its name or exactly what color it was (Cathie?) but I do remember how excited I was. A few weeks later in the mail I received the dog's personalized name tag and collar. Cathie had a P.P. (hahaha P.P) too, and for some reason while we were riding in the backseat on the freeway she let my P.P. fly out the window. All I remember was a lot of screaming and sadness.
Now lately I've been dealing with trying to make my first born tough. Man, I was anything BUT tough when I was a kid and I don't want her to be a wussy. She gets her feelings hurt perty easily but she's used to playing nice, and very princessey.
The other day at the library 3 bullish little boys did not want her to play with them and she got sad. I mean real sad. Lots of tears and hurt feelings. Well, we dealt, and later that day I made a point of trying out role playing exercises to teach her how to ignore bullies and walk away. I think I need her to watch Annie a few more times to toughen up.
Anyhow, back to the P.P. thing. One day this week we were on the freeway headed home from the East Side when the first born held a plastic bag out the window. God forbid she throw it out. It's the scariest thing to be on the freeway and have a plastic bag land on your windshield and get stuck on your wipers and block your view. So I yelled at her.
"CELIA! Don't throw that bag out the window! The wind will pick it up and it'll fly away like my Pound Puppy!"
"What MAMA?"
"Yeah - throwing things out the window is dangerous. Once Cathie let my Pound Puppy fly out the window on the freeway and I never saw it again! - so be careful!"
(now don't ask me why I compared throwing a plastic bag out the window on the freeway to a stuffed animal, but I did.)
The next thing I know, Celia's face is all red and she's drowning in tears. She was so sad about my story.
"What happened to your puppy Mom? Where did it go?"
"It wasn't a real puppy, Celia, it was just a toy. I think it stayed on the side of the freeway."
"Why didn't you go back and get it Mama?"
"Cuz the freeway is dangerous. If you drop something out the window you can't get it back."
This was real dumb cuz she wasn't comforted by anything I said, and I had to hurry to put on the Sound of Music CD to distract her.
Then Alex said:
"Sara. Can you do me a favor and not use this moment to tell her how your grandparents died or about the holocaust? (There he goes with the holocaust again) It's not the right time. She's already sad enough."
Yuk yuk yuk.
Now I know that my 4 year old is not ready emotionally for any tragic stories. But she IS getting a little tougher. Tonight a little kid pushed her at the playground at the mall and she said "Go take a hike!".
Maybe that's what I should have told my sister after my P.P. died instead of being a cry baby.
