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Why do we always hurt those we love the most?

Bobo has a ritual she follows when I leave the house, it is not all that elaborate and it makes me feel loved and missed. She absolutely must get a big hug and kiss and then she stands on the porch and waves goodbye as I drive away, and I open my window and yell that I love her and to be a good girl. Well I gather it is all a bit too sappy for my oldest to wittness because the other day as I was driving away and giving Bobo my final farwell I see her come flying out of the doorway she was standing in and fall to her knees. I stopped the car and yelled for Nick, Ella who was on the other side of the door had slammed it shut and sent Bobo flying. It was fine in the end all was forgiven and it was back to being playmates, but as I drove away I thought it is too bad that we often do treat those closest to us the worst. I know that I am sometimes guilty of being more patient with the clerk at the supermarket than I am with Nick or the girls so who I am to ask any more of them.

Fear Factor

Bobo has always been a scaredy cat but recently her fears have expanded in both scope and intensity. The phrase that escapes her mouth most frequently is "what was that noise!?" followed by "was that just you?" She gets worked up all the time and when I say worked up it is a sight you would have to witness to believe, you would think she had spent the first years of her life in a war torn country. She screams, cries, clamps her hands around her ears, sweats, and just becomes generally paranoid and miserable, the main culprits are as follows.

Fireworks
Cats
Dogs
Thunder storms
The ice maker (which she call the ice cream maker)
Trucks
Airplanes
Construction noise (they are building houses on our street and have been for the past 2 years)
Bugs
Closed doors (even when you would like a little privacy in the bathroom)
Bugaboo Creek, a steakhouse with a talking moose on the wall.

Chuck E. Cheese, Nick has a bad experience there with Bobo and to tis day when we drive by she makes us promise to never bring her there again. One of the easiest promises I will ever make in my life.

The dark, when she goes to bed the following lights must be on, our room, the guest room and the upstairs playroom. Yes they have two playrooms one upstairs one downstairs and I still have toys strewn all through the house. You should hear the reasons given for not playing in the two room dedicated to play.

Any noise that she does not know the origin of, no matter how distant the source or low the volume.

You know I could go on and on with the list, it just grows by the day and while I hope that this stage is reaching it's peak at least Nick and I can keep our sense of humor. While discussing her fears we came to the conclusion that some day her biggest fear will be running in to us in public, her friends will hear her say "what was that noise, was that my mom's car, it sounded like my mom's car"

Really

Bobo why must you yell down the stairs every night at the top of your lungs. Asking the same question each night. Mommy do we have to whisper?

And while we are on this topic why do you ask me every night if that is your seat at the dinner table, as if you have not sat in that seat at every meal since you graduated from a highchair. Never mind that every other seat at the table is already occupied. Do you really not know the answer? Because if I do not answer you repeat the question over and over your voice growing in size and pitch until I look you in the eye and say not just yes or yep or thats right, but I must tell you that yes that is your seat Bobo.

You are something else miss Bobo.

There are lots of real animals you can eat.

Something occurred to Ella the other day and she bound in to the room to share with me. "Mommy you know there are lots of real animals we can eat, like we can eat chickens that are real, or lobsters, well you can't mommy but people can. And we could eat, umm, umm well there are a lot of real animals to eat."