The Trauma of the Snowman

I wish I had a picture of this cute little snowman that causes so much distress for poor E. He's really a cute, little, stuffed snowman that stands a foot or so tall. You would never see him and think that he could cause a 1.5 year old so much trouble. But, he does.

We were out at my mom's house on Monday evening. My aunt and uncle had just arrived from Kentucky and so we were all sitting in the living room chatting. E was showing off as usual for the guests. She can be such the little ham. Anyway, she walked over to this little stuffed snowman sitting on the floor. Grabbed his nose and pulled. I'm not sure what her plan was, but she certainly didn't intend for the nose to come off in her hand. Everyone had watched this happen. I said 'uh-oh' and I think someone else had a sharp inhale of breathe.

E turned to my uncle, who was sitting on the floor next to her, dropped that nose in his hand like it was a hot potato and ran toward the kitchen like her pants were on fire. She dropped the evidence and ran for the hills! She ran out to the far side of the kitchen table and when she saw G'pa coming after her, she ran out to the back door. G'pa was just coming to comfort the poor little girl, but she would have kept running if she'd been able to open the door.

Meanwhile, the rest of us were busting a gut in the living room because it was so funny. Her facial expression was priceless. She panicked. Her eyes were as big as saucers...it was a complete deer in the headlights expression. It shouldn't have been so funny because she was very distressed, but it was just too cute. G'pa collected her and took her to the family room and tried to calm her down. She clung to him like a barnacle. Eventually, the horror of the broken nose faded and she was able to play with her puzzle and other toys. However, she did NOT willingly come back into the living room for the rest of the night...and when she did she clung tightly to the adult that forced her back in.

By yesterday, the nose was fixed...good as new. But, E still wouldn't go into the living room with that snowman. He had to be hidden. She saw him and got all distressed once again.

Fast forward to today. The snowman had been hidden in my old room where Stacey had been staying for the past 4 days. She was in packing up and so E was 'helping' her. E turned around, saw that snowman and ran out of the room terrified and had to be comforted. Three days later and she hadn't forgotten the incident. Such trauma for a little one...all because of a carrot nose.

We won't be at G'ma's tomorrow or Friday. Hopefully when we go back on Saturday, the snowman won't cause so much distress!