Score One for Mom and the Monster!

We've got one wily monster over here!

He must have known that Mama doesn't allow candy. When Kai woke up this morning the box was closed again, but this time when he opened it there was a note in it with "KAI" inside a heart...AND...3 BIG, juicy, gummy bugs! Oh my goodness!

At 6:00 this morning Kai came running in to my room, box in hand, yelling, "Mama! Mama! The monster was here!" When he showed me what the monster had left him I scowled in absolute disapproval at the contents of the box. Kai looked sad. He said to me, "...but I'm not allowed to have candy." "No." I said. "You're not." Then Kai said, "...but Mama. It was a present. He might be sad if I don't eat his present." To which I responded, "Well. That must be a wily monster. I'll bet he knows you're not allowed to have candy! He left you some because he knows that I HAVE to let you eat it now. Well, I suppose you should eat it to let the monster know you like him."

Kai hesitated, big goofy smile on his face. It was pretty obvious that he didn't think he'd win this argument with such a lack of resistance. He popped one gummy grub in his mouth and bit down on the disgusting, gooey, squishy, sweet, and sour, yellow thing. I haven't actually seen the look that spread across his face since he was 6 months old and I introduced him to his first taste of bananas. It was a slow dawning of bliss and discovery. Texture, taste, and a partial revulsion for the ick factor, making the eating of a gooey bug sensational. I asked him, "Is it good?" to which he replied by popping one in my mouth, "Here Mama. We have to share!" and emphatically shaking his head "YES!"

Score one for the monster.

Score another half a point for Mama too...

Monster Trap Night Two

So tonight the monster trap has Swiss cheese and a chocolate truffle. Kai decided that we needed to give the monster the truffle because he feels bad that the monster is scared of him. Sigh. My sister made some great suggestions about how to make this fun again so I'm going to try it.

He was so exhausted tonight. Fell asleep on his own. His sleep patterns have been totally haywire the past 2 - 3 weeks. Mine as well. I've been going through a very rough reorganization at work. It's been very stressful. Added to that I'm traveling on business alone without him for the first time. We've never been separated before. It's all just made for a lot of stress that he's picked up on translating in to him not going to bed until 10:00 at night, even later a few times. He's used to going to bed at 8:00 every night so this has been extreme. He's just been a train wreck. Anyway, we've been getting back to a normal sleep schedule and he's feeling better but this monster catching thing has really grabbed him for some reason. I think he's lonely. He woke up this morning and told me he didn't want to die like his grandfather. Sigh.

I'm going to see if I can put together something exciting for him to find in the monster trap tomorrow to cheer him up about the fact that there won't be a monster in there in the morning.

Monster Trap Post Mortem

Oh no!

Kai woke up at 5:00 this morning and climbed in to bed with me. He'd forgotten about the monster trap so when I asked him about it he got the flash light and went to go look. The box was closed. He got a little scared :( I opened the box. When he saw that it was empty, no cheese, no monster, he almost started crying! He was devastated that the monster came, ate his cheese, and never woke him up to play with him. OMG! Talk about something fun back firing. Then he began talking about how maybe the monster is afraid of him and how we need to put out more cheese so he can stay up and talk to the monster when it comes and tell it that it shouldn't be afraid of him so it will play with him. Sigh. I'm not sure if continuing with this is a good thing or not. He was so sad.

Building a Monster Trap

So after reading the book The Monster Trap for the billionth time tonight, Kai decided he wanted to catch a monster. Since we KNOW that monsters LOVE stinky things, we got a box and put a big slab of Swiss cheese in it. We put the box on his computer desk across from his bed (and may I say it stank! I could smell it from my room and the dog was doing everything in her power to get it). Kai then proceeded to tell me everything he wanted to do with the monster when it showed up. He was so hopeful! Kept talking about hoping a monster comes to visit. Said that the monster would knock on the door and he would play with his trains with it when it came. I feel like we're having our first tooth fairy moment ;^) Needless to say, I gave the dog the cheese when Kai fell asleep. I'm sure we'll be talking about it tomorrow.