Facing Fears
I thought it was funny that so many people mentioned Monster Spray in last night's post because I actually stood in a store a few days ago, clutching a bottle of Febreze, and figuring out whether or not I thought Monster Spray would work with Alexis. As I meandered down the mental path envisioning how that would go, I thought of her waking in the middle of the night, crying until she found the spray, and the realized something--she doesn't stay in her own bed. I knew I would be the one stomping around in the middle of the night to seek out spray to scare away that which isn't there in the first place.
No, thank you.
Instead I decided the best thing for us to try was to twist the monsters into being happy little creatures that are our friends. And what better way to make new friends than to throw a party, right? So that's what we did--we threw a Monster Party.
Alexis and I kicked off the festivities by baking cupcakes together and then decorating them to be goofy little monsters. I quickly learned that whipped cream flavored frosting is not a decorators friend, so the monsters turned out far more scary than silly, but in a Craftastrophe sort of way.
As we were ruining perfectly good cupcakes, we turned on Monsters, Inc. I want to hug that little girl Boo for laughing at the monsters all the way through the movie, because Alexis quickly started to think the monsters were funny, too. We hadn't watched the movie for a long time, but this time Alexis thought it was freakin' hysterical. She had tears rolling down her chubby little cheeks at one point because she was laughing so hard.
After the movie it was time for bed, so we read a couple of monster books. After the books came the moment of truth--time to turn out the lights. Alexis made a big production out of there being a monster under her bed, so together we got down low and looked for it. She didn't see it under the bed, but then suggested it was under the rug. I pretended to scoop it up, gave the tiny little beast a hug and a kiss, then started laughing and acting like the silly monster was dancing. (I really deserve an Academy Award for my performance, btw.) After that moment of genius, I asked Alexis if she wanted to give the monster a kiss, too, and she did before busting up laughing because the monster was, as she put it, "tooting."
Fart jokes just never stop being funny when you're two, I guess.
Anyway, after that we tossed the monster in the aquarium and sent Elmo swimming with the worms. Apparently the worms did a good job of keeping the monster under control because Alexis not only slept peacefully all night, she did it in her own bed. All night.
It was beautiful.
I don't know how long the affects of the Monster Party will last, but I do know that the very first thing Alexis did when she got in her room tonight was to gleefully scream, "Hi, silly monster!"
I'm sure that roughly translates to, "Dude. I need a new excuse for not sleeping through the night 'cuz that monster gig is up. Any ideas?"
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Reader Comments (33)
A monster party. That's a new one on me. You're just so creative, aren't you?
Brilliant idea! I am so glad that it worked so well! I will definitely keep this one in the back of my head if we ever start having a monster infestation under our beds here in our house. :)
dudette, you totally rock the mom thing.
totally.
inspired.
Holy cow, that's a lot of leaves!! That looks like awesome fun!
"grinch spray" worked for my son years ago (a can of Lysol covered with a computer printed pic of The Grinch with an X over him) but good to know that my daughter and I may have a "monster party" in our future as opposed to chemicals! lol.
A Monster Party is brilliant! Very good thinking on that one.
Yet another reason I am listing you as #1 on my list of potential adoptive mothers. For me.
I was going to say "What a brilliant idea!" but, of course, everyone before me already said that.
So, um, Freaking Fantastic! Insanely clever! Wowzas!
Much better than murdering the Elmo Monster.
Oh, and thank you for bringing Craftastrophes to our attention!
That is awesome!
I was going to suggest Monsters, Inc. but sometimes the kids look right past the "niceness" of the monsters in that movie and just see the scary part.
I'm so glad it worked! :)
So far we haven't encountered any monsters in our house, but if we do I'm totally stealing the Monster Party. That's BRILLIANT! And so glad it worked.
We haven't had the monster routine yet. There were however evil helicopters that lived in Boy Child's closet and we did in fact use the Helicopter Away Spray (hairspray) for that one and they haven't returned. :)
We had a poster of DynaCo McQueen that was moving the other night so it now remains folded up and lying on the floor.
We haven't watched the Monsters, Inc. for this very reason. I love my slumber - without company!
What an awesome idea! That is a great idea with Monsters Inc. I will remember this down the road if I need it. I hope I don't, but we'll see.
I'm so behind on your posts and a couple other blogs. This week has been so crazy busy. I'm off to read through the rest of the week now.
Love the photo of Alexis. I have one similar of Jonathan.
Oh my goodness! That was and awesome idea, I am so glad it is working!!
What a great idea! I will remember that for five or six years from now when I have a 2 or 3 year old! Or maybe just for my husband....he doesn't like monsters much either.
Holy crap! You're a genius!
And way to stay one step ahead of the toddler!
Great idea! Maybe you should write a parenting book?
Love the Monster Party!! What a fantastic idea!
And you're really lucky, you know that? What would you have done if that monster had turned out to be larger than what you could hold in your hand?
I can actually imagine you standing up, grabbing imaginary hands, and dancing around the room. :)
You are an awesome mom. I'm filing this one away for future use.
Inspired!
Congrats, doll. You done good. And, I imagine you feel fabu after a good night's sleep?
This makes me wonder what kind of excuses Alyssa will make up once I release her from the prison that is her crib.
O that silly monster!!! Sounds like she just needs another excuse to stay up. ;)
Well, what a good idea! And I'm so glad it worked!
My next suggestion was going to be to get some of those little battery operated puck lights and stick them under her bed and turn it on at night so that she could easily see that there is nothing under there.
Awesome use of psychology.
Ah, the spray never worked in our house.
The setting up of magic, invisible posts (with signage) on all four corners of the property that warn away ALL monsters, ghosts, etc. from even thinking about entering our property (let alone the house!) has worked wonders. It worked 18 or so years ago for the Toad, and continues to work for the Howler.
The signs say simply that the scariest thing that's allowed here is MOMMY (and that is ME.)
Even my own children acknowledge and use my total scariness--up to and including believing that *I* am scarier than the scariest things that are out there, or in the closet.
Phew! A solid night's sleep! Monster spray, monster parties, WHATEVER works!
The Monster Party was a FAB idea!!! Great idea!! So glad it worked!!
I SOOOO wish I could have seen you dancing around her room with The Monster.
Great idea on the Monster party! I'm totally keeping this in mind in case I need it someday :)
I'm impressed!
I believe they also sell "anti-monster toys" in case it happens again which, of course, are just stuffed animals. Some bastard made a ton of money creating that trumped-up stuffed animal. That pisses me off.
Anyway, any excuse for cupcakes is hawt.
Way to go, Mom! Tomorrow night she'll be up, playing Twister with Elmo.
God, you've a good imagination. I just bought a book called Sophie and the Sea Monster and it worked wonders. It was about a girl who was afraid of the monster under her bed, but it turned out he was more afraid of her. In fact, he was afraid of everything. A cute book.
cute post! what a good mammy you are to come up with that monster party idea!! I hope you have a fabulous day!! hugs!! Britt :-)
yep you get two gold stars at least for your parenting brilliance. It will be somethign new next week no doubt so stay sharp.
Sadly, you could be right aobut needing a new excuse. Diva comes up with one about every 5-7 days after a new plan has been successfully put into effect. **sigh** A word of warning, when Alexis gets old enough to read Junie B Jones, don't let her read the monster one. A friend tells Junie B. that the monsters drool on the pillow (meaning the kids drool) which gave a whole new reality to the monster issue. That one still rears it's ugly little head from time to time when no other excuse is working.