Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Butterflies and Hairballs


Hey . . . make sure you guys pop over to http://jauntyquills.com/ on Thursday where I'll be guest blogging. I'm giving away like three copies of my book. The blog is about Streeeetch . . . .ing.

Oh, the lessons you can learn from a seventeen month old. Recently while at my daughter’s house I really became a wiser woman. My little grandbaby taught me a valuable lesson of . . . avoidance, or you might call it deterrence. Yup, who knew a seventeen month old could be this smart?

You see, we were visiting my daughter and whenever my daughter would scold my precious little seventeenth-month-old granddaughter, she would first get this very sad look on her face and then she would look up at the ceiling and with wide expressive eyes she would say. . . “Butterflies.” She would even point her little finger up as if to say, look around, I’m sure I just spotted one.

My daughter wasn’t born yesterday and she already had a pretty good idea of what Lily was up to, but nevertheless, it was so cute, it brought all of us to laughter each and every time. And each and every time my granddaughter got exactly what she wanted from us, too. The scolding was over, the negative moment was gone and life was good again.

Let’s fast forward two weeks. I’m sitting at my desk. Hubby comes storming in the office in a snit. (You know what a snit is, don’t you?) Anyway he was fit to be tied with chains, not just rope, and he looked at me and asked, “Do you know that YOUR CAT left a very unpleasant surprise in our bed while I was napping?” In hubby’s defense, my cat is the only one I allow in our bedroom. And yes, Skitter can leave some serious hairballs on the bed and nothing is as unpleasant as rolling over, being half asleep, and finding yourself nose to nose with a hairball resting on your pillow. Hubby continued, “I simply do not get why this cat is allowed in the bedroom when he does things even worse than the others cat.” Okay, I’ll admit this, too. Skitter is the hairball king. He’s my one and only long-haired feline.

But to answer hubby’s question. Well, Skitter is special. He was/is feral, and he doesn’t get along with people or even the other animals. He only loves me and occasionally when hubby is in a good mood, he will tolerate hubby—even if it is only to leave a hairball on his pillow. However, my hubby knew this answer. I’d explained this numerous times, he was just angry at finding himself nose to nose with a hairball again.

So I did it.

While hubby was going full rant about hairballs on the pillow, I looked up at the ceiling and in total Lily fashion, I said, “Butterflies.”

Hubby stopped cold and burst out laughing. And I joined in, as well. And just like Lily, I was completely content. Hey . . . I’d avoided the rant session and we were laughing. What was so bad about that?

Anyway, I encourage you guys to try it, though I’m not sure if it will work on anyone who hasn’t watched Lily pull her precious little avoidance act. Nevertheless, it worked for me and from now on when the shit hits the fan, or when the hairballs hit the pillows at the Craig house, you will hear me . . . “Butterflies.”
So what lessons have you learned from a child? Any avoidance tactics you could share? I'm sure "Butterflies" won't last forever.

14 comments:

Ruth said...

Oh that is so much better than my
"I'm not having this conversation with you at this time." I'll have to try butterflies- just not sure how it will work when I'm on the phone.

Ruth

Donna Marie Rogers said...

Lily sounds so adorable, Christie! And incredibly smart. ;-) I love that..."Butterflies". LOL I think I'll give it a try later as I'm sure my husband will storm into my room at some point to rant about someone or something. Between his father, the dog, the cat, and our girls, that man is ALWAYS ranting about something...LOL

Terri Osburn said...

OMG! That is so cute. And SMART. You have a blooming genius on your hands.

My cat makes the hairball raising noise, but nothing ever comes out. I'm dreading the day it does.

So, from the mouth of babes. My daughter (11) and I were talking about the revolving door of women that her father seems to have. I asked if it bothered her to have these women in and out of her life. Without hesitating she looked over and said, "It's better than cable."

I was so shocked, I just burst out laughing. Until she qualified that it would not be tolerated were I to install a revolving door of men.

Stupid double standards.

Christie Craig said...

Hi Ruth,

Yup, much better than blowing a gasket. And who knows, it might even work when you're on the phone.

Thanks for stopping in.

CC

Christie Craig said...

Donna,

You know, men say women are the ranters, but I'm not so sure.

Thanks for stopping in.

CC

Christie Craig said...

Hi Terri,

I love, love your daughter's comment. You gotta use that in a book.

And yup, I think Lily is going to one smart cookie.

Thanks for stopping in.

CC

Sandy said...

What a cute story, Christie. Lily is one smart little cookie.

My hubby will be ranting before the day is out, and I'm going to try it on him. lol Probably won't get the same result though.

Suzan Harden said...

Lily's method is much cuter than my dad's. He'd "accidentally" turn off his hearing aid when my mom was on one of her rolls.

Unknown said...

That's adorable! When I was a kid, if I got a swat, I would rub my bottom and say "wipe spanking off". Which they found endearing, but I think it only encouraged me to further devilry.

The husband and I used to fight. Like something out of Taming of the Shrew. I had to win the argument on its merits. But, that made me tired and even more angry because he's as stubborn as I am. So, now, if he's fussing at me, I just flash him and even after eleven years, it still stops him dead and he forgets what we were talking about and I get my way. *g*

@Suzan- My dad is deaf in one ear and refuses to get a hearing aid. He's rearranged the living room so my mother has to sit on that side of him, so she can all she likes and he never hears it. :)

Christie Craig said...

Sandy,

Let me know how it turns out. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you.

CC

Christie Craig said...

Suzan,

My dad doesn't have bad hearing, he has selective hearing. I think a lot of men do. LOL.

Thanks for stopping by.

CC

Christie Craig said...

Saranna,

I'm going to have to try that. LOL. But I have to tell you my hubby has a bad habit of mooning me when I get on a roll. And I can't help but laugh.

Thanks for the chuckle.

Oh...when I was little my older brother told me that a good way to get out of getting a spanking, was when Dad asked, "Do you want a spanking?" I was told to look him right in the eye and say "Yes. I'll take one of those." Brother said he would think it was funny.

Let's just say, I obviously needed to work on humor delivery back then, because I got a spanking.

CC

catslady said...

I love it. I doubt if it will work for me but I'm going to try it lol. My husband rants - what is it with men. Although I know my sister is a ranter but I do the opposite and don't talk which unfortunately I think he likes (sigh). When I was young my mom would sometimes spank or worse, slap me - I started closing my eyes figuring if I couldn't see her, she couldn't see me. It worked for a couple of times lol.

Christie Craig said...

Catslady,

I hope it helps you out. I know what you mean about the silent treatment. It only works if the person you're mad at wants to talk. And when does a man want to talk? Well, not very often. LOL.

Thanks for stopping in.

CC