Mr. Stubborn and Mr. Scared of Little Bunny Foo Foo

This is Mr. Stubborn, from the Mr. Men show. He's hilarious, and very stubborn.

Our Tommy is also hilarious, and equally stubborn. Just after lunch today I asked him to take his plates to the sink. He said he couldn't. Didn't want to. Didn't feel like it. I gave him Mommy Lecture #42 "Do you think I always enjoy shopping, cleaning, doing laundry, wiping your bottom, etc. and etc?" He was unmoved. Tommy kept insisting that he couldn't take his plates to the sink. It was too hard. Yeah, the kid who learned to ride a two wheeler at 3 1/2 and can climb a fence can't walk 2 Corell dishes 10 feet to the sink. Mr. Stubborn! But poor little Mr. Stubborn is no match for Momma Stubborn. Through my own bouts of frustration/hilarity, I watched my little 4 year old lay on the floor, cry, plead, walk over to the kitchen drawers, examine contents, pick out an enormous pair of BBQ tongs, walk back to the table, try to pick up the two plates in the tongs, fail repeatedly, finally compromise and pick up one plate in the tongs, walk it slowly to the sink, drop it in, walk back to the table, get other plate, drop plate out of the tongs halfway to the sink, finally pick up plate in the tongs again, reach the counter top just feet from the sink, plate slips out of tongs again, after numerous attempts pick up plate in tongs once again and drop it into the sink. All while whining and crying enormous crocodile tears. The process took 8 minutes at least. You'd have thought I'd just asked him to run the Boston Marathon. Backwards. While hopping on one foot. Boy, is that kid stubborn!

But he's also rather easily frightened as well. Last week he and Jos went to Nana's house for an afternoon of not clothes shopping with Sid. Josie and Tommy love hanging out at Nana's. But when he got home he seemed a little preoccupied. Afraid. And that night when I got right down to the root of the issue, he had been scared during rest time. By Nana and the kids singing that most terrifying song "Little Bunny Foo Foo".

Little Bunny Foo Foo hopping through the forest,

scooping up the field mice and bopping 'em on the head".

Scary stuff for anyone. And so disturbing! Fairies threatening to turn bunnies into goons, not to mention the appearance of field mice in the forest. Up to no good, I'm sure. Tommy was literally shaking in bed while telling me about it. It made me sit back and reflect that sometimes the hardest part of being Mommy is not laughing in your child's face.